A Spy's LIfe
by Lemonn-Limee
Summary: Full summary/trailer inside. I stink at summaries, sorry. Please read and review. :  Zammie...Jiz...Brant...And Macey finds someone, too! Maybe.
1. Trailer

**_A Spy's Life Trailer/Summary_**

**Four Girls**

"Cameron! You _will_ let me do your make up!"

"Elizabeth! You broke my camera when you fell!"

"REBECCA, would you stop threatening me in Farsi?"

"Macey, I think five suitcases_ is_ a little too much."

**Four Guys**

"Zachary Goode, if you do not stop flicking me this _instant…!"_

"Grant Newman, you're such an idiot."

"Jonas Anderson! Stop hacking my hack!"

"Hey, I'm Chase." Who?

**All trained in Espionage**

The safe made a barely audible click, and Macey McHenry had just broke open a safe in class record time-15.67 seconds.

Red lights dropped down around us, and quickly we jumped over the first set, backing away from each other, before flipping, jumping, ducking, and sliding past several more.

I ducked into the nearest store, and within moments was out again, this time _behind_ my tail.

**With Love A Possibility**

"He makes me confused," she said, her soft voice a whisper through the bug.

"You have his jacket."

"He saved my life."

"You like her, man!"

**Training at Two Different Schools**

"Oh, Solomon is so much harder than Mr. Mushi!"

"Dr. Steve is way more strict than Ms. Morgan!

**Creating a Chat Room**

_Chameleon, Duchess, Bookworm, and Peacock have logged on._

_Shadow, Laptop, and .Training just logged off._

**All on a Mission**

"Gather your things, boys, you're going to Virginia."

"Prepare for company girls, because a few boys are on their way."

**To Pass CoveOps Class**

"You failed this test."

"Be more careful next time."

"Your best friend can be your enemy."

**Without Getting Killed**

"BEX LOOKOUT!" A giant rock fell right where she was standing.

"Oh crap!" I said, wobbling on my toes at the sudden drop off.

A dark van was headed straight for us, but we couldn't move. We held our breath, hoping they would go around. They didn't.

**Ok So I saw the trailer idea in a couple other stories I've read and really liked it, plus, it helped me get some of these ideas on paper. Any comments, suggestions, criticism, etc is loved! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 1: Assignment Part 1

**Sorry for the long wait I've been so busy. I hope you don't mind that most of it is in Liz's POV, usually it should be in Cam's POV. **

**Chapter 1**

**BPOV**

"Do we wear our uniforms?" Cam asked.

"It's pretty hard to blend in, Miss Morgan, if you're wearing rich-kid boarding school uniform," Solomon said.

"I didn't know we were going to be blending in," Cam said, smiling. We all smirked and followed each other out of the room at a regular pace. Once we were back on the main floor, though, we took off sprinting.

Cam reached the room first and within seconds the door was flung wide open and we came skidding in. Macey immediately grabbed a large purse and backpack and started filling them with outfits of all types, wigs, and contacts. She put two pairs of sunglasses and two (really cute!) hats in the purse, along with two complete makeup kits. She changed out of her uniform into flare leg dark wash jeans and tennis shoes. She pulled on a sweatshirt over her cami and started French braiding her hair into two braids.

Cam changed quickly into jeans and her running shoes; she traded her uniform shirt for a plain Tshirt and a tan short styled peacoat like jacket. She pulled her hair up into a fast crazy bun and wiped off all her makeup. Once she was dressed, she raided the jewelry box on her desk. She put in a pair of dolphin-shaped earrings, already equipped with bugs and tracking devices (we had been busy over the summer). She clipped a short necklace around her neck, tucking the key attached to it under her shirt collar.

Liz threw her backpack onto the chair in front of her and searched through it. She added a few little cords and headphones and other odd technological things before zipping it closed and turning towards the closet. She ripped the first pair of jeans her fingers touched off the hanger and slid them on. She slipped off her uniform shirt and put on a yellow Henley. She slid her feet into tennis shoes, and flipped her head over, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail.

I changed first, already having an outfit in mind. I put on my dark bootcut jeans and my Sperrys, followed by a red cami and a dark grey sweater that buttoned in the front with the buttons outlined in ruffles. I left my hair down, unlike the others, and slid on sunglasses.

We attached the clear comms unit Liz handed us in our left ears, leaving the right for the ones Solomon would most likely give us. We checked each other out before heading out of the room and rushing down the steps and out the front door. Once outside, we were met with a loud _whuuuppwhuuppp_ing and the view of four helicopters sitting on the front lawn.

"I don't think we are going to be doing this in Roseville," Cam muttered.

"Welcome ladies. Today's assignment is going to be pulled off in teams. Your group is the first to arrive, so you get the most time to look over your assignment. Once all four teams get here, you will be transported to your starting spot and let out at the same time. The last team to reach the final destination fails today's class. Good luck ladies," he said. He handed me an envelope and pointed at a helicopter. We ran over to it and jumped in, sinking to comfortable spots on the floor until take off time.

"Read it!" Liz said, reaching for the envelope.

Cam jerked it out of my hands and opened it.

**CPOV**

"Your team will be split up at the beginning. Research and Development field people will go to the library, about a minute walk to the left, and report to the third floor where we have a room reserved to ourselves. Another one of you will go to Holiday Inn and Suits by taxi and station in one of the many floors' bathrooms. You will be the base for a major costume change and losing a tail." I paused in my reading long enough to look between the four of us.

"Obviously Liz is going to the Library," Macey said. We all nodded.

"The third team member will walk throughout town, looking for operatives. Once she compromises an Operative, who will be trying not to get tailed, she will receive the final destination. The fourth team member must make it to the final destination without a tail. The last team to have their fourth team member reach the destination will not be able to participate in the next class field op. The remaining three members at the end of the op must be at the library without tails by fifteen minutes after their team member finishes. This requires strategy and team work, along with the obvious skills needed. Good luck."

I looked up from the document in my hands and we all looked around our circle at each other.

"Ladies, if you would please take your positions, we are about to convince take-off," the pilot said, leaning around his seat to look at us. We immediately jumped to our feet and slung our backpacks on our backs. We grabbed the handholds and secured ourselves with the carpenter clips so if we let go we wouldn't fall out. Within seconds after the warning, the three helicopters in front of us rose steadily as we did, and we started moving in a line, following them.

"Ok, so, I think Macey should be the one to go to the hotel," Bex said. I looked at Macey and nodded.

"Ok, cool. So what floor? Which bathroom?

"Um, try third floor, bathroom to the left," I said, looking at the blueprints I had found in the envelope.

"Ok, if someone else comes in though, I'll switch. I want the bathroom to ourselves. I'll lock the door behind me."

"Sounds good. Which one of your is going to find the destination and which one is going to get there?" Liz asked, looking between me and Bex. Bex and I looked at each other for a moment, and then we just shrugged.

"I'll go to the destination," I said.

"Alright, I'll find it," Bex said.

"We are so going to win this thing," Macey said, and we all high-fived in agreement.

**LPOV**

"Ok Cam, Bex, I got you both on two separate security cameras. Cam, I'm going to follow Bex until you get the destination, so keep up with your tail and be careful," I said

"Gotcha Bookworm," Cam muttered, walking into the bookstore on her left. I minimized her screen to the top left hand corner so I could focus on Bex.

"I don't see anyone suspicious looking," Bex muttered, walking casually down the street and making another turn. It was easy to keep up with her dark hair through the crowd, and I followed her all the way down the street where she made another left.

"Slow down Duchess," I cautioned, watching for movement around her. Bex's form slowed slightly as she walked, looking at the stores and watching for someone she might recognize.

"Go in the shoe store," I said, quickly hacking over into their security feed to keep watch. "Duchess, your seven o'clock," I muttered, observing a man watching Bex closely.

"What about him?" Bex asked, looking at him on the reflection of the metal shoe rack.

"He's watching you, hold on," I said, grabbing his face on a still shot and running it through a Gallagher employee photo record. A few seconds later his image popped up beside a chart with his information on it.

"Duchess he's your man," I said, quickly minimizing his profile.

"Alright," she said, turning around. "Shizzle. Where'd he go?"

I ran back the feed from the past ten seconds, keeping my eyes on the guy, Jason Muril, as he walked out the door. I switched over to the street feed again and watched as he walked up the street.

"Outside, take a left," I said, switching view points again. I kept my main screen on Jason Muril, and eventually, Bex caught up and came in the same frame.

"He's not trying to lose me," Bex muttered, stopping to fake tie her shoe.

"He thinks you're a regular teenager Miss Baxter," Solomon's voice cut through our right ear, the Comms the whole class had ear to. I could hear Anna and Tina arguing through them, not smart enough to bring their own, and in the library room, even though we all had headphones on, I could hear a few others working on tracking their own teammates.

"Excuse me sir, would you happen to know the time?" I heard Bex ask, and I turned my attention back to the street camera. Bex was talking to the man at a traffic light.

"Yeah, it's uh, twelve thirteen," the guy said, without looking at his watch. This was definitely our guy.

"Oh! Hey! It's been forever since we've talked! I've been trying to find you recently!" Bex gushed, and the guy laughed.

"Oh yeah! Ha, it's been a while!" He said, playing along not to draw attention to themselves.

"I don't mean to rush out on you, but do you happen to know where Joe is? I need to ask him what he wants for his birthday," Bex said, sliding her hands onto her hips.

"Sure, he's at the Craft Store on 35th and South Street. Has a stand set up in the back corner behind a closed white door. You'll know it when you see it."

The walk light ahead changed to green and the crowd around Bex and Jason moved slowly across.

"Well, was good seeing you," Bex said, shaking the man's hand and turning around the other way. She walked back the way she came. She stopped and pulled a pen and sticky note from her pocket and wrote down a street address, looking at the store on her right. Once she had wrote down the location, she started walking again.

"Intercept in five," I said, watching the two familiar forms walk towards each other. Cam's slightly taller form wove in and out of the crowd at a normal pace, and suddenly, Bex's bulk and Cam's tallness intercepted each other. They 'glared' at each other and continued walking their own path.

"Got it!" Cam mumbled as she twisted her ankle rounding a corner and skidded across the sidewalk on her knees. "Oww," she added.

"Tail at 7o'clock. You ok?" I said, watching the man observe from a distance.

"Mhm," Cam said, standing up with the help of a nice guy standing around. She sighed and headed down the street.

"Macey, she's coming to you," I said.

"Got it," Macey said, and I heard slight rustling and beating around.

"Girls, we aren't alone," Bex muttered, and I caught up to her a few streets away.

"No, we have tails," Macey and I said at the same time.

"Operative Three has Gallagher tails. Operative Four doesn't. Run a tag of Cam's tail," Bex said. She was pretending to talk on a cell phone.

I switched back to Cam and grabbed a frozen screen grab of her tail's face. I blew it up and ran it through CIA files. Nothing but a firewall came up.

"Give me a minute," I muttered, typing away.

**So, what did you think? No guys yet! :) Ha, but they will be soon. Review?**


	3. Chapter 2: Assignment Part 2

I don't know if I've done a disclaimer, but I find them pointless. I'll do one anyway just in case. Disclaimer: Disclaimed.

**Chapter 2**

**CPOV**

I walked down the sidewalk at a fast walking pace, my knees oozing blood and starting to scab over and get stiff. I turned a corner and caught a reflection of my tail, realizing again what Bex had rebrought to my attention.

I saw the hotel up ahead and decided to cross the street. I looked both ways before running across, earning a few honks and shouts. My tail stayed on the other side of the road, stuck. I saw him reach up and rest one hand on his baseball cap and the other made a fist at his side. I watched as his lips moved slightly and the Comms piece became more visible the longer I traced him out of the corner of my eye.

I headed inside the hotel and stopped at the counter to ask for a first aid kit.

"Are you staying here?" The lady at the counter asked. "We can't offer accommodations for nonguests," she added.

"Um, yeah," I said, intently listening for someone hanging around the lobby to say their name.

"I'm coming, stall," Bex hissed through the Comms and I immediately knew what to do.

"Name and Room please? We'll send it right up," the snob said.

"Well, is this going to cost anything?" I asked, sliding my hands on my hip.

"Well of course! It's an extra accommodation not usually offered, much like room service."

"You know lady!" I said, raising my voice and drawing attention. "I could go to any other hotel, one star or five, and get a free first aid kit! I don't HAVE to room here ya know!"

"Well, I understand your choosing us is, of course, a choice, and that you can leave whenever you want, but that does not change the fact that to receive a first aid kit adds twenty dollars to your bill miss."

Right then Bex walked in and looked around. She immediately caught my eye and then started talking with a lady on the far side of the lobby.

"TWENTLY DOLLARS?" I screeched, holding in a laugh.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, it was nice talking to you. I better go," I heard Bex say.

"Bye Miss Renay," the lady said.

"Goodbye Miss Tarley," Bex responded, headed for the staircase.

"Fine, send it to my room. My name's Tarley." I turned and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time until I reached the third floor. I ran into Bex when I rounded the corner.

"Intercept that kit. I'm going to need it and I don't know what floor it's going to." We high-fived and continued walking in different directions. I headed straight for the bathroom.

"Cam, two minutes earlier you would have ran into Tina and Mick," Macey said, pulling me into the third, and handicap, stall. Her supplies were set up all over the unusually shiny clean floors. I leaned back against the wall and let her pick out an outfit out of her many choices of clothes.

"Here, put this on," she said, handing me a pair of converse, a dark UNDER ARMOR baggy sweatshirt, and a toboggan. I changed my tennis shoes for black converse, and changed my cute jacket for the baggy sweatshirt.

"Hide your hair," Macey said, sorting through her makeup and not even looking in my direction.

I slid my hair quickly into the hat and pulled it down on top of my head.

"So Tina and them are ahead of us?" I asked, bending down to tie my shoes.

She turned toward me with a thick brush in her hand and a container of something in her other one.

"I'm a guy, I don't wear makeup," I said, trying to save myself.

"Cameron, you _will_ let me do your makeup!" Macey said, smiling. She attacked my face just then, and I stayed still for her to make me look like a dude. She handed me contacts and a pair of sunglasses that I slid on and looked in the small mirror.

"No, they didn't have the location yet. Mick was losing her tail."

"Ahh, am I ready?" I asked, stepping away.

"OK, don't talk to anyone unless you have to. Your guy voice is horrible," Macey joked, and I stuck my tongue out at her. "And get the first aid kit from Bex and change into this outfit at the Civic Center on 33rd. There's a cheerleading comp later tonight so there's a ton of people walking around in outfits similar to the one in there. Come back out and walk down two more streets without a tail and meet Solomon and your good to go!" Macey said, handing me a duffel bag she got from I don't know where.

"Alright, thanks Macey," I said. We high-fived for good luck and I walked out the door of the girls bathroom a guy. Macey forgot that little detail.

After scaring away a few guests in that hall, I ran down the stairs and dashed across the lobby and out the door. I saw my tail turn, along with a few other people, at the scene of someone high-tailing it out of the fivestar hotel, and I really hoped I turned fast enough he didn't catch my torn jeans and bloody knees.

I ran around the corner and backtracked through an ally to the back of the hotel. Bex was waiting on me. She handed me the first aid kit and I knelt down and zipped it in the top of my duffel.

"See ya," I said, skipping around the corner and blending back into the traffic of people. I went with the crowd moving towards the civic center, checking behind me and on reflections for my tail.

"He's three streets back Cam. You lost him," Liz said through my comms and I nodded in satisfaction. A few minutes later I walked into the civic center and walked around, looking at all the historical stuff and the signs pointing out where the crowd needed to be and where the sign in was. After checking to make sure no one was watching, I rounded a corner and turned down an empty hallway. A few feet down was a double door with a sign 'NO PERSONS BEYOND THIS POINT' with a little cheerleading banner. I opened the double doors and dashed around the corner, freaked by the sound of footsteps behind me. I slid between a drink machine and the wall as two security guards in uniforms walked by. They walked into a room marked 'security' and I slid out from my hiding spot. Immediately I ducked into the nearest room, a small janitors closet, and changed into Macey's outfit.

Suddenly I went from a guy to a cheerleader in under a minute. I had short spandex hidden under a pair of orange cheer shorts that I rolled over twice. I had knee high neon orange and blue socks on with my feet tucked into a pair of white cheer shoes. Bandaids now covered the worst of the scrapes on my knees, and the rest had scabbed over. I put on a long sleeve Tshirt that banded back around my wrists and said CHEER SQUAD 2007. I put my hair into two low pigtails and slid the toboggan back on to keep out the cold.

"You left the civic center yet?" Bex's voice broke through my concentration as I stuffed everything back into the duffel bag.

"Almost," I said, sliding the duffel onto my shoulder and looking at my outfit. "Peacock, _what_ am I wearing?" I asked, shocked she had something even close to this in her closet, let alone with her on a random mission.

"I bought some stuff and found some stuff…and borrowed some stuff.." her voice faded out and I snickered.

"Where am I going after this?" I asked, making sure I knew which way to turn.

"Take a left and pass two intersections and then there's a craft store," Liz said. "Security's clear here Cam." I took that as a cue to get my butt moving and slowly opened the door and walked out. I closed the door behind me and started walking towards the double doors. I peeked through the little window and then slowly pushed my way through that door and out into the crowd.

"I got ya Cam. No tail yet," Liz said, and I walked out the door without checking for tail.

I made it down one street without seeing my tail again, and the closer I got to Solomon's hideout, the more nervous I became about actually having a tail. I did every counter-surveillance technique ever taught and more, and still, never saw a tail. I walked into the craft store and looked around, slowly making my way towards the back. No one came in after me.

Five minutes later I was sitting with Solomon in the back of the craft store with headphones on listening to everyone. I took them off and laid them beside me. Our team hadn't won yet.

"Alright, Liz, you're almost there," I heard Macey say.

"Intercept in three, two," Bex muttered, and then she was conversing with someone random, and I knew she lost Liz's tail for her.

"That makes it harder for you Bex," I said, trying to picture everything in my head. I heard the bell outside clang, and then a few minutes later the door creaked open and Liz was the second student to join Solomon.

A few seconds later the bell rang again and Mick walked in. We smiled and greeted her with a highfive. She glanced at my outfit and raised an eyebrow, but I just shook my head.

"Tie your shoe. To the left."

"Right. Duck in this store here."

"Behind you nine o'clock. Lose him soon."

"Tie _your _shoe."

Macey and Bex were giving each other directions, trying to lose both of their tails at the same time.

"Make them run into each other and then disappear!" I said suddenly.

I heard a slight static noise and then a distinct voice and suddenly the door opened to the store and a few seconds later Bex and Macey appeared, slightly out of breath. Liz and I hugged them and we highfived.

"There's still time for a tail," Solomon said quietly, and our celebration paused. Twenty seconds passed. Then a minute.

The bell rang. We all held our breath.

The door creaked open and Tina walked in. We all celebrated. We 1. Won, 2. Got an A, 3. Had bragging rights, 4. Had some serious secret IMing to do.

**Ok, so I really don't think the argument Cam had with the hotel clerk lady would ever really happen, but it just came to mind right off so I figured I'd go with it. I hope you liked it! Review?**


	4. Chapter 3: The Joys of Hot Chocolate

Hey guys thanks for the reviews and story alerts :) This chapter is really well honestly unlike anything I've read in a GG fic. I hope its not too out there.

**Chapter 3**

**CIA Chatroom**

**Created by: Elizabeth Sutton**

**Clearance: Admitted only to members. Unhackable up to level 6.**

_Chameleon, Duchess, Bookworm, and Peacock have logged on._

_Shadow, Laptop, and .Training have logged on._

Chameleon: So boys. Have an interesting day?

Duchess: Have a good chat with your friend Grant?

Peacock: Couldn't keep up with a few costume changes Zachary?

Bookworm: Couldn't beat my firewall, could you Jonas?

Shadow: McHenry. Do. Not. Call. Me. Zachary.

Laptop: I could if I had more time. But it seemed you had some trouble yourself hotshot.

.Training: No comment.

Bookworm: Under a minute isn't trouble. Over thirty is.

Chameleon: I feel left out. No one answered my question.

.Training: Sorry Cam. My day was very interesting.

Shadow: No comment.

Peacock: Where'd Zach get lost Cam? The guy or the cheerleader?

Shadow: Whoa whoa! Cam dressed up as a cheerleader?

Duchess: Before that Macey!

Bookworm: Way.

Laptop: Aren't ya'll in the same room?

Chameleon: Aren't ya'll?

Duchess: Ohhhh. Burn.

Peacock: So boys. Did you get a big F on today's assignment?

Laptop: We don't get Fs.

Shadow: Duh McHenry.

Peacock: *rolls eyes* I meant it figuratively geniuses.

Bookworm: Wow.

.Training: Figuratively, yes.

Shadow: Grant be quiet.

.Training: Make me.

_Shadow and .Training have been disconnected._

Chameleon: ?

Laptop: You should be glad you can't see in here right now.

Bookworm: Always am.

Chameleon: Always am.

Duchess: Always am.

Peacock: Always am.

Laptop: Weird.

Duchess: Who was the guy following me?

Laptop: That would have been our roommate.

Bookworm: His name's

_Bookworm's chat has been temporarily disabled._

Peacock: Apparently we aren't supposed to know.

Laptop: Duh.

Duchess: Idiot. She's in our room. Just because she can't type it doesn't mean she can't tell us.

Laptop: She won't though.

Chameleon: -Liz—What makes you think that?

Laptop: I have some firewall passwords that get past Clearance Level 6 I'll give to you.

Chameleon:-Liz again—No way! Wait-phwshd. If we didn't have so much more CoveOps and Research homework I'd be way past that.

Laptop: Oh come on.

Chameleon: Whoa! Got to go now!

_Chameleon, Bookworm, Duchess, and Peacock have logged off._

_Laptop has logged off._

The thunder outside our window rumbled again, and lightning flashed in sight.

"Great. We'll get plenty of sleep tonight!" Macey complained. She threw a pillow at the window.

"That's gona help Mace," I said, watching it slide to the floor. Thunder shook the room again, and we all looked at each other, big eyed. Liz turned on the radio and immediately it started spitting off towns and cities with tornado watches and warnings and spottings. We turned it back off without listening for Roseville as the lightning crackled again. The power blinked, and my heart started pounding rapidly.

We all slid on our UGGs and raided our stuff for flashlights and batteries.

"Found two flashlights!" Liz called.

"I got one!" Bex said.

I stuck my head under my bed, the last place any of my things would be, and pulled out a small bag I had stashed away. I opened it and dug around underneath the familiar leather. I knew I had put one in there.

"Got it!" I said, holding my large green flashlight up in success.

"I found a pack of batteries," Macey offered, laying them on the end of her bed.

As we collected our findings together, thunder and lightning stuck at once and we all covered our ears. The power went out, and the room was black.

Liz screamed. Across the hall there were a few more screams, and then if you listened, you could hear 7th grade hall as a chorus of shrieks. Almost instantaneously, we all grabbed a flashlight and our room lit up in little round circles of light.

I moved mine to the window and caught sight of rain coming down in buckets and already standing about two inches on the ground. We all looked at each other without saying a word.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Bex walked over slowly. We watched from the window as she opened the door and a figure's shadow was cast into our room.

"Take something to do and go to the dining hall," my mom said before moving on down the hall and giving the same directions to everyone around us. I looked down the hall-all the teachers were still on this end.

"Mom!" I called, running and poking my head around the door frame.

"Cam?" She asked impatiently.

"Is anyone telling the 7th graders?" I asked, knowing their rooms were the farthest away.

"Not yet. You four can if you hurry," she said, and I nodded. She smiled briefly before knocking on the neck door.

"Forget that, we're going to get the 7th and 8th graders out of their rooms," I said, walking back in. Macey had a backpack on her back, along with Liz and Bex, and they had one already packed for me. I slung it on my shoulder and stepped out into the hallway. Everyone around us had flashlights and slippers and were carrying a bag of some kind. Passing by the dining hall was like swimming against the currant, but eventually we made it through and around the corner. Outside the windows the water level was about up to four or five inches, and the thunder and lightning wasn't letting up.

"Worst storm I've ever seen," I muttered as we jogged through the long hallways.

"Definitely," Bex agreed.

Thunder boomed and practically shook the school and we picked up our pace, almost full out sprinting down the hallways.

Finally we came to the hall of dorms and started knocking. The doors were opened by shy faces but were immediately slung open at the sight of us.

"Grab something to do and go to the dining hall," we all said before moving on to the next room. For a few minutes, our voices and the sound of doors opening and closing were all that could be heard above the thunder and constant rain patter. We got to the end of the hall and finished up.

Thunder boomed again, and outside the window lightning flashed so bright I had to turn away. Even through the thick walls, you could hear the wind picking up and the trees falling nearby.

"Girls, get out of that hallway now!" An older voice ordered, and suddenly the last of the seventh and eighth grade student body ran down the hallway around the man.

"Girls, come on!" He shouted again over the now louder wind. We pushed a few slow seventh graders faster in front of us and Solomon was standing at the end of the hallway making move it motions with his hand. The wind picked up and suddenly the seventh graders took off faster than before and we had room to sprint full out.

We ran side by side, keeping pace with each other so as not to lose someone. I heard the wind outside getting closer, the rain hitting harder, and the thunder practically on top of us. Liz dropped her flashlight and our vision was limited down to three little circles instead of one. It was a good thing we knew this school like the back of our hands.

We reached Solomon and he pushed us forward, kept us running as the noise of the wind picked up. We had caught up to some other seventh and eighth graders and pushed them in front of us. It became so loud you couldn't hear the person next to you, and then suddenly, it grew even louder. The few students in front of us screamed as the rain reached them through the now open roof, and I watched in amazement as pieces of priceless irreplaceable historic Gallagher items ducked into the ground, covered by a tile floor.

"Run faster!" Solomon yelled from behind us, but we couldn't move before the others did. We slid around the corner, water in our eyes and hair sticking to our backs, and the dining hall door was in front of us. It opened, and standing in the doorway was my mother, shocked at the sight before her.

She stood to the side as the people in front of us ran past her into the safe and dry hall. We had lost ground on them, tired out from sprinting the whole way.

"Hurry up!" My mom screeched, and I looked back. A giant funnel cloud was forming in the clouds above us, and the school was filled with two inches of water. Lightning flashed and I turned back around.

Thunder filled our ears again, and one of the small marble figurines fell from above us. We screamed bloody murder as it landed beside us all, and suddenly, we had the strength to run faster. Lightning hissed behind us, and we stumbled in the door, followed by Solomon. The door slammed behind us, closing off the sound of the storm.

My mom and Solomon herded all us soaked kids to the back of the hall and through a small door to the kitchen. She bent down and I knew what she was getting. I remembered being here before in a storm when I came to visit her when I was little.

I bent down on the other side of her and Solomon and pulled out a box of mugs and hot chocolate. I nodded toward the too-large fridge, and Macey and Liz opened it and got out two gallons of milk. Bex took one and started filling mugs while Macey and Liz put three to a microwave and hit start.

"Dry your hair at least," my mom whispered in my ear, wrapping a towel around my shoulders.

When all the microwaves were filled and mugs were lined up to be heated, I flipped my hair over and towel dried the hardest I had ever dried it. I pulled it up with my trusty hairtie that never left my wrist and turned to take some mugs out of the beeping microwave. Bex took the towel next, and Macey and Liz started stirring in the hot chocolate packets and handing out the warm mugs almost faster than I could get them out and restart the microwaves.

Finally, all of us had dry hair, a mug of hot chocolate, and a towel and blanket to sit on in the hall. After guzzling the hot chocolate and helping my mom and Solomon load the dishwasher with all the mugs, we followed the others back into the dining hall.

A lot of eyes were on us, and I felt strangely out of place. I was the chameleon. I wasn't used to being stared at. We found a seat against the wall and spread out our blankets and then the towels on top of that. There was a real fire going in the large fireplace, the first we'd ever seen. We took off our boots and set them up in front of it so they'd dry off.

"Are these waterproof backpacks?" I asked, sliding mine to the floor beside me as I sat down on a towel.

"Yes ma'am," Liz answered, pulling out here laptop.

I knew what was going to happen. We were all going to pretend that everything out there didn't happen until we were back in our room. Then we would explode with our thoughts. We didn't want to give anything away to the others who hadn't seen the damage to our beloved school yet.

Liz logged onto the chatroom and we all crowded around her, too lazy to sign on outselves.

_Bookworm has logged on._

_**1 new message**_

_**From: Laptop**_

_**Subject: Weather**_

_**Hey liz, are you guys getting awful weather? Our radio said you were, but I wasn't sure. Just curious. –Jonas**_

_**REPLY:**_

_**Yeah Jonas we got a LOT of bad weather. Practically a tornado in the school. –Liz**_

_Bookworm has logged off._

We all just sat there. The noise finally grew quiet as other Gallagher Girls went to sleep, and the storm ceased outside, releasing pressure we didn't realize was there. Finally, we fell asleep at four thirty that morning.

Later that morning, at about ten, everyone woke up to the smell of waffles, strawberries, hot chocolate, hot syrup, and tea.

"I feel like I got ran over by a truck," Macey complained, stretching out as she stood up.

"Tell me about it," we all muttered, yawning and walking over to the breakfast bar. We fell into line and got a plateful. Instead of setting out the tables, we all just ate wherever we had slept. And it was one of the best breakfasts ever.

My mom took the podium a few minutes later, and we stopped eating to see what she had to say. We were all burning with curiosity.

"Ladies, as you know, last night we had an awful storm. But, as you can see, this room was made to sustain even the worst, so in here, there is still power. But outside of those doors, the left wing has been completely destroyed. Obviously, we won't have classes other than P&E because the barn is still standing and you need that training, but instead of classes you, sisters of Gallagher, along with professional CIA builders and a little help, will be rebuilding your school."

There was a small cheer among the girls as we thought it over.

"Wait," I said. My mom looked at me. "You never said who the help was."

She smiled at me. "Prepare for company girls, because a few boys are on their way."

A small cheer went up through the all the grades and Liz suddenly was very interested in her email.

**Meanwhile. In Maine:**

Dr. Steve took the podium at while we were all eating the cheap food Blackthrone had. He didn't look real happy.

"Gentlemen, I am sad to say that last night a natural disaster rocked the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Their whole left wing has been destroyed. We have decided to send four of you in each grade to assist with the rebuilding, and you will remain there for the whole semester. Once the wing is rebuilt you will attend classes there. You will receive a notice on your door if you are to go. Thank you and have an excellent day."

The guys looked at me, and suddenly we weren't hungry. We had to see if we were the ones going, and if we weren't, switch the notices around so that we were.

**So? What was wrong? good? loved? hated? Review please! I probably will start trying to update on a weekly basis because weekends are my only free time to write because of French and science homework and gymnastics four days a week. I hope to have a chapter up next weekend. :)**

**Love, peace, and a backhandspring,**

**Lemonn-Limee**


	5. Chapter 4: Very Attractive

**_Two days late, but better late than never! :) I hope it's not too choppy it was a little difficult to write. I have some Zammie waiting for the school to get done being built, so any ideas up to then would be wonderful! Enjoy!_**

**Chapter 4**

**CPOV**

Everyone spent the day raiding their rooms, or what was left of their rooms, for all their belongings. Temporarily, we were all staying in the Dining Hall sleeping on mattresses and sharing the two sets of bathrooms until the right wing was checked and cleared for safety.

Our room was almost untouched by the storm, only a few water spots by the window. We packed all of our stuff up and carried it down to the Hall.

"Macey, I think five suitcases _is_ a little too much," Liz said, observing her stack of suitcases along the wall. Bex's two were on my two and Liz's three sat next to ours. Our four mattresses were pushed together side by side. Macey said it looked awful because our four different comforters were all different colors and designs, but the rest of us thought it looked cool.

Lunch and dinner were like comfort foods, only at a five star level, and every meal was eaten in bed.

That night as all of the sisters of Gallagher sat in the room preparing for bed, my mom took the podium for the third time in a day.

"Girls, remember: Tomorrow we are starting repairs in the right wing. Be ready to work in the morning!" she said before walking back into the kitchen where she had emerged from. Within an hour almost everyone had laid down to sleep, but we were still sitting up waiting.

At eleven thirty two exactly everyone around us was asleep, and we opened our laptops.

_Chameleon has logged on._

_Bookworm has logged on._

_Duchess and Peacock have logged on._

_.Training, Shadow, and Laptop are logged on._

Peacock: Hey guys.

Chameleon: Hello people.

Duchess: What's up?

Bookworm: Heyy!

Laptop: Liz we need to make a status updater on here. (Hey!)

.Training: Hey girls.

Shadow: McHenry. Gallagher Girl. Bex. Nerd.

Duchess: How come I don't have a nickname?

Bookworm: Rude!

Shadow: Grant won't let us call you British Bombshell. Sorry Liz.

Bookworm: No you aren't.

Chameleon: Are you guys coming to Gallagher?

Shadow: Yep.

Peacock: Great.

Duchess: Wonderful.

Bookworm: Amazing!

Chameleon: Can't you just feel the sarcasm?

Laptop: Hey you should be glad for some help!

Bookworm: Sure.

Chameleon: When are you guys getting here?

Shadow: Less than ten minutes.

Peacock: He's kidding.

Shadow: You wish.

Laptop: He isn't.

Duchess: But everyone is sleeping…

Bookworm: Creepers!

Chameleon: Creepers!

Peacock: Stalkers!

Duchess: Creepers!

Laptop: Those were miliseconds apart. Weird.

Shadow: Very.

.Training: Yeah..

Chameleon: I love how they don't deny it.

Shadow: We aren't Creepers.

Laptop: We have to sleep too ya know.

.Training: Speak for yourself Zach.

Duchess:!

Peacock: Grant, do you have something to share?

Bookworm: I wish you guys could see Cam's face.

Chameleon: Grant you worry me.

.Training: I worry a lot of people.

Bookworm: That's believable.

I looked up from my laptop at the muffled sounds of helicopters outside. Bex, Macey, and Liz all looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

I pulled my blanket tighter around my legs and pulled my hair back up into a neater side ponytail.

Laptop: We are here. Walking in the ruins now.

Bookworm: We hear you.

_Laptop, Shadow, and .Training have logged off._

We all closed our computers and hid them between our piles of bags. The wide double doors opened almost silently and the boys filed in, led by Dr. Steve. They all dispersed in groups of fours to empty spaces on the floor where they laid out inflatable mattresses and blankets from their backpacks.

I searched the group for a pair of familiar emerald eyes and messy dark hair and soon found my match. Zach, Grant, and Jonas were the last three in the line, and I guessed the kid in front of them was their roommate.

"He's hot," Macey muttered so low I almost didn't catch it.

"Who?" Bex responded.

"Their roommate," she said. She obviously thought the same thing I did. The kid in front of them was a little shorter than Zach and Grant, had shaggy slightly curly beach-blonde hair, teal-grey eyes, and some serious muscle.

The line was dwindling down to the last eight. Spaces along the floor were becoming harder and harder to find. We had a large Dining Hall, but it wasn't made for the student body plus some. They walked in our general direction, and we squinted our eyes to make it less noticeable that we were awake. Our sisters still hadn't stirred. Now I knew that if someone broke into the school at midnight no one would wake up.

Zach, Grant, Jonas, and their friend found the last remaining floor space a little ways from our own set of mattresses. After using the silent two-second air pumps all spies-in-training were familiar with, they all laid down and it grew silent. The addition of a few snores and heavy breathing was the only noticeable difference. I looked at my best friends and we shrugged. Liz's eyes closed for real, and we all took it as a sign to get some sleep.

My internal alarm clock rang fifteen minutes before anyone else besides the cooks, teachers, and my mother were up. I took the loss of sleep to my advantage and stole away to the bathroom to get a shower before they became too crowded to move. A five minute hot shower, two minute teeth-brushing job, and a minute of blow drying my hair later I emerged back into the Dining Hall.

Mom had said that uniforms were not required for a while, so instead, I had raided my suitcases for something decently warmish to wear. I was wearing my favorite pair of old jeans and a semi-loose long sleeve Tshirt. I French braided my hair into two braids out of my face and slid on my oldest pair of tennis shoes before hitting the breakfast bar. A few other girls were rising and rushing to the showers, trying to beat the crowd. I saw Liz get up, and soon after Bex, but Macey was still sleeping when the rest of the girls hit the showers.

Liz joined me all ready to go work at the breakfast table with a plate of two pieces of toast and two large strawberries. Bex sat down with wet hair and Macey joined us still in her pajamas, too tired to fight the crowd.

"Liz how in the world you don't starve is beyond me!" I said, looking at the difference between her plate and mine. Mine was covered with three waffles, a piece of toast, two strawberries, and a biscuit.

"Maybe you're just secretly fat," Macey joked, digging into her own plate similar to mine. I stuck my tongue out at her, and we all laughed.

"That's attractive Gallagher Girl," a familiar voice said from behind us, and our laughing ceased and became small smiles.

"Are you boys going to eat this excellent food or just flirt with these girls?" Dr. Steve said walking by and winking at us. We all giggled, and the guys rolled their eyes and walked towards the breakfast bar.

"Nice pajama's McHenry," they all chorused, and although Macey McHenry really didn't care what those boys, well at least three out of four of those boys, thought, her cheeks turned a bright pink and for once she didn't have a comeback.

"I'm going to shower," she muttered, shoving up from the table. We all suppressed snickers until she was in the bathroom, then we laughed so hard Bex had milk come out her nose. And then because of that, we were all laughing harder.

"Real, real, attractive there," a deep unfamiliar voice said. Zach, Grant, Jonas, and the person we took to be their roommate joined us at the table.

"Shutup," Bex coughed, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

"That's a great way to say hello," I commented.

"Oh sorry. I'm Chase."

"Who?" Macey asked, joining us again with a wet bun wearing jeans and a shirt similar to mine and socked feet without shoes. She slid into the seat she had recently just vacated.

"Chase. Chase Hix."

"I'm Macey," she said.

"Cam," I said.

"Bex."

"Liz."

"Nice to finally put a real face to a name."

"Jonas hacked the Gallagher files didn't he?" Liz asked.

"No! Gallagher has some serious firewalls!" Jonas complained.

"Awesome!" Liz said. We all rolled our eyes.

I ran my fingers around the edge of my plate and looked at the guys. They were all wearing some ratty looking jeans and flannels over black Tshirts. Chase and Jonas had their hair gelled in spikes, and they all had balance necklaces on. They all had tennis shoes on tied with pink laces.

"Sisters of Gallagher and students of Blackthorne, please be ready to work in five minutes! We have a lot of work to do!" My mom said at the platform. We all scarfed down what was left on our plates and got up and walked around a bit. Bex braided her hair and Macey put on some shoes.

We were the first at the door, so when Mom opened them for us to go out, we were the first to have our heart stop at the damage. With a little push from the guys behind us we walked out carefully and turned to look at what was left our beautiful school. To the right was the right wing, still standing tall and strong, but to the left was the left wing, left almost completely in piles of rubble. The foyer and grand staircase were still standing practically unharmed, but the roof was if shambles. The sun shone through casting smalls pools of light on the damage.

"Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores go with Dr. Steve, and Mr. Solomon and start working on your right wing. The rest of you grab a shovel. We have to start getting rid of some this rubble," my mom said into a bullhorn, and quickly everyone dispersed.

The smaller crowd climbed the stairs to the right wing where hammers, ladders, nails, drills, wood, shingles, and many other building supplies waited. Solomon split us up, and the seniors were put on floor duty, the juniors on roof duty, and the sophomores on wall duty. It was a good thing I needed a tan; even though it was only sixty two degrees outside, the sun was shining directly on the roof, and that's where we were going to be for the next few days.

"Hammer," Zach said.

"Nail," Bex said.

"Got it!" Liz called.

"On it!" Jonas shouted.

The sound of pounding, drills, saws, and voices was all that could be heard for two days straight. All we had left to do on this right wing was finish the roof and then it was done.

I walked over to Zach and handed him a hammer. Once my hand was free I wiped the sweat off my forehead.

"Thanks Gallagher Girl," he said, smiling at me. I nodded and smiled before walking back across the roof to Bex and Macey.

"One more to go over here," Macey said from below me on her hands and knees. I handed her another shingle and watched as she pounded it in.

"Ready for a water break?" I asked.

"Yeah!" everyone on the roof shouted.

"Done!" Zach called from where he was working.

"Done!" Macey sang from her spot below me.

"Done!" Mick and Tina said together from the other side of the roof.

"We are done then!" Mr. Solomon said. I walked over to give everyone a highfive when my foot slipped on shingle.

"Whoa!" I muttered, biting my lip as I slid halfway down the roof before catching my foot on the edge and holding myself there.

"Let me give you a hand there," Zach said from behind me. He offered me his hand and I took it. He easily pulled me back onto my feet.

"Thanks," I said.

"Let's go get some water," he said, wiping his face with the color of his shirt.

**_Review!_**


	6. Chapter 5: Word Games

**Chapter 5**

**CPOV**

A week into the rebuilding we were having a large dinner to celebrate the sophomores, juniors, and seniors moving back into their old rooms. The few empty rooms that we had added on were going to be for the guys of those grades, so everyone around me was packing up their stuff again.

"I ain't got nothing to pack back up," Liz said, her accent coming through.

"Aint got?" Macey asked.

"Macey McHenry! You will speak with proper grammar! You are a young lady!" Madame Dabney scolded walking by.

"But…it was…Liz said…I was…yes ma'am," Macey stuttered out while Madame Dabney waited expectantly.

"Oops, sorry. I don't have anything to pack up. It's already packed from moving out!" Liz said laughing once Madame Dabney had walked away.

"I know; I don't have anything either," I said, falling back onto my mattress. I came back up almost high enough to stand up before falling back down. Right before my back hit the ground a pair of hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me back up to my feet.

"Oh! Hey mom," I said, suddenly meeting her eye to eye. Her blue eyes were bright but she had dark circles under them. The rebuilding was hard work.

"Hey sweetie. You guys can put your stuff back in your room now," she said before kissing my cheek and moving on to talk to someone else.

"You heard the lady! Let us go!" Bex said, laughing. We piled the mattresses up on each other two to a pile and Liz and I grabbed one set and Bex and Macey grabbed the others and we walked carefully over and around everyone to the door.

"I'll get it!" A seventh grader said, hopping up from where she was sitting on her knees playing a game with a few others. She opened the door for us and we smiled in thanks before taking off running up the stairs up to our old room.

I pushed open the unlocked door and backed into the room.

"Freeze!" a voice said from behind me, and I looked at Liz in front of me. Her face told me it was just the guys playing tricks on us.

"Why don't you!" I said, dropping the mattresses and whipping around to face whoever was in our room. My mouth opened in shock before closing again. I narrowed my eyes and slid my hands to my hips. Liz set the mattresses against the wall, and Bex and Macey behind us put theirs on ours and joined us in our stare off.

"OK you guys have to leave. This is our room," Macey declared.

"We like your room better," Grant said.

"Yeah why do you guys get the better room?" Chase asked.

"Because we_ live_ here," Liz said like _duh, are you stupid?_

"Our room really isn't that bad guys," Zach said, smirking. "It just smells like fresh paint," he fake complained.

"Then get an air freshener!" I half-yelled, annoyed.

"Ok, well, we'll be leaving now," Jonas said a little nervously before leading them out of our room.

"Look for bugs," I said as soon as the door closed. We scoured the room looking under furniture and in any cracks. I got on the floor and slid under the beds on my back.

"Gross Macey!" I said from under her bed. Gum was stuck on random places.

"What?"

"This gum is disgusting!"

"It's not mine!"

I looked closer and realized that it was still semi-fresh. "Get me some gloves or something," I said, looking for the hiding bug. I refused to touch fresh-chewed gum, spy or no spy.

Bex handed me some gloves and I slid them on before slowly pulling off all the gum and setting it on a plate Bex had set at the edge of the bed.

"Found one," I sang, pulling off the last piece of a gum and revealing a small black bug capable of catching any noise up to fifty feet away.

I crawled out from under the bed and held up the bug in victory.

"Let me see it," Liz mouthed, and I tossed it to her. She caught it and took it apart before punching in a number on her laptop. Suddenly, we could see the guys on our screen.

"Act like we can't see them," she mouthed again, and we all nodded, silently laughing.

"Ok I went through all that gum for nothing!" I lied loudly, pulling off my gloves and throwing them away on top of the plate.

On the screen Grant looked at Zach and laughed, and Jonas started grinning.

"Sound?" Bex mouthed to Liz, and soon her computer lit up with sound.

"Crap!" Macey shouted, covering up the noise. We didn't think about them being able to hear themselves through the bug.

Liz turned the sound off, and I jumped back on my bed.

"This time I did find one," I said, pulling an almost invisible bug off from under one of the springs of the bed above mine. I crunched it and we laughed as the guys held their ears on the other side while it crunched.

Liz set the bug down beside her computer and closed her laptop.

"Let's move back in!" she yelled, and we all agreed. Bex and I moved the rest of the mattresses back onto the beds and Macey started unpacking everyone's clothes together into our one large closet. She sorted everything by color and size and type for easy outfit accessibility.

I reached over and turned on the stereo we had left in on top of our bookshelf and let the music blare from the speakers.

"_Yeah, uhuh, you know what is, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow!" _Macey sang with the radio while starting on the third suitcase.

"_Black and yellow," _Bex chimed in.

"_Black and yellow," _Liz added_._

"_Black and yellow!"_ I finally decided to charm in right as the song ended.

Liz changed the station to country music and a very familiar voice came on.

"_She grew up on the side of the road,__where the church bells ring and strong love grows.__She grew up good;__she grew up slow__, __like American honey." _Liz's honey sweet voice and country accent sang with the radio, and it grew quiet in our room to listen.

By the time the song went off our room was back to normal and we were all in our pajama pants and cute Tshirts with our hair up in buns and only the basics of our makeup on. We slid on marshmallow shoes and walked back down to the Dining Hall to join in on the festivities and food.

"Starfish!" Bex shouted.

We all made gun motions and hunting actions. It was supposed to be silent except for the shouting of the guessing team member, but it was so hard not to laugh.

"Gunfish!" Bex tried again.

"Bex that's not even a word!" Liz cried, laughing so hard she had tears falling down her face.

The half of us on my side made gun and hunting motions while the ones on the other side made stars with their fingers.

"Shooting star!" Bex yelled out louder than all her other answers, and the little bell rang from my mother's podium.

"Point! Juniors!" My mom said into the microphone and all the juniors cheered while the rest of the gym booed in protest. We were winning five to the next highest, two.

"My turn!" I called, running up and trading Bex places. I stood on the line of tape where I couldn't see my mom and stared at my grade.

"Aww crud!" Half of the hall said, and I knew this one was hard. My team was talking together real fast, so I looked around. Everyone else was just standing there, thinking.

Suddenly all of my grade started making hearts and kissing faces.

"Hearts! Valentine's Day!" The motions continued. "Romance! Love!" Everyone started jumping up and down and giving me a thumbs up.

"Ok, love…" I said, dragging it out. Everyone stood around for a second before Macey turned to the nearest person to her, who happened to be Chase, and knocked him on the ground.

"Hit? Fall? Fall in love!" Everyone must have caught on to what Macey was doing because they were looking at Chase like there was something wrong with him and making X signs.

"Lay? Don't lay? Don't Lie! Don't lie love? Don't lie, um, truth," I started figuring. Everyone was giving me thumbs up and laughing.

"Truth! True love!" I yelled, and the little bell rang. I realized all the other teams were staring at us. I wondered how long they had been doing that.

"Well, even though we know who the winners are, let's do one more!" My mother said, and I traded places with Grant.

The word popped up and I started laughing so hard tears ran off my cheeks and onto the floor. Macey looked at me like I had lost it, but I knew immediately what the teachers wanted us to do, and I thoroughly expected to watch the other grades do it before we did.

"Just wait, we win no matter what," I said, biting my lip and wiping off my tears. I watched as one by one the girls and guys finally figured out what they had to do to get their classmate to guess, and I watched as the guys paired up with a girl. There were kisses all around, and the classmates were staring.

"Right, well, um," Zach started talking.

"Just shutup," I muttered, pressing my lips to his.

"Kiss!" Grant yelled.

"Last point goes to the sophomores!" my mom called out, and I took note at the smile on her face. And of course, my best friends took note at the smile on mine.

**IT was really jumpy and skippy i think, but hey, its a chapter, right? not all of them can be winners. I don't own the songs, the first is Black and Yellow and the second is American Honey. Do you guys want me to skip through the rest of the building? Anything in particular you want to happen/guess is going to happen? I hope you liked it, review! :)**


	7. Chapter 6: Tournaments

**Chapter 6**

**CPOV**

Last minute repairs were being finished by the pros on the left wing so that the Sublevels and secret underground tunnels still had access. My secret passageways had been redesigned with the whole left wing, and so now I had some serious exploring to do. We all stood in a mob in the school yard watching the final repairs. On the outside of our rock wall boarder, newscasters were filming the last of the rebuilding for the local news.

The wind was blowing pretty strong, and other than the noise of last second hammering, all I could hear was Macey complaining about how the wind was totally ruining her first day of straight hair in almost a month.

"McHenry, shut up!" Zach finally turned around and said. Her mouth closed tight and her eyebrows raised in an arch.

"What?" she said, and everyone around them held their breath.

"Stop complaining about your hair!" Zach said.

"Make me," Macey said, putting emphasis on the 'k' in make.

"Zach. Don't," I suggested, grabbing his arm.

"Macey chill," Chase advised from the other side.

"I would like to congratulate each and every one of you for your tremendous effort to rebuild Gallagher Academy. Starting tomorrow, classes will be back in session, and hopefully everything will return to normal. Blackthorne students, we would like to thank you and say we hope you find Gallagher classes as challenging and strenuous as they are there so as not to ruin your education. " My mother interrupted all the conversations happening around us and it stayed quiet even after she was done.

"I would like to say to my Sublevel classes, do not show up to class in uniform tomorrow, do not bring anything to class tomorrow, and be ready for anything," Solomon said, giving away no emotion. Immediately whispers were spreading through the crowd among his students, and ours was definitely one of the most argument filled.

"Calm down everyone!" My mother shouted above the sudden noise, and as the noise died away, she yelled again. "In celebration of the build, the rest of today will be declared tournament day!"

Every Friday for the past month we had gotten in teams of eight and spent the evening and night practicing two sports for a tournament we were told would happen at the end of the year. We were lied to.

"What!" everyone shouted, looking around anxiously at their teammates.

"If you've been registered for basketball and baseball, please come with me now!" Mr. Mosckowitz said, leading away a large group of teams.

"Track and Karate," Mr. Solomon said, walking behind the school to the old track. A slightly smaller group of teams jogged over behind him.

"Golf and Tennis," Mrs. Buckingham said and half of who was left went with her.

"And I have Obstacle Course and Volleyball," my mom said walking around our group. I counted up about three or four other teams plus ours.

"While I check the course, you guys need to look like teams. You have five minutes, and I better be able to figure out who's on who's team or your team is disqualified." My mom started walking towards the P&E barn and we all took off running inside.

"See ya in a sec," we told the guys as we disappeared into our room. We quickly changed into black athletic shorts, black ankle socks, black and purple tennis shoes, and purple shirts with black numbers on the back and lettering on the front with fabric paint. I started French braiding Liz's hair, Bex started doing mine, Macey started doing hers, and Liz started doing hers. We were standing in a circle in the middle of our room with the guys walked in. I finished the second side at the same time as everyone else and we dropped the braids and ran out the door. Zach closed it behind us before catching up.

We ran back out and joined the small crowd of two teams who had beat us out. Macey threw ribbons at us and quickly we tied them on the bottom of our braids. I looked at the guys. Their shorts matched ours (they were guys' style anyways) and their shirts were the same too. I had to admit, they looked really good in dark purple.

Another team ran out to join us, and my mom nodded.

"Ok stand in one big group," she said. We all squished together and she started sorting us out into our teams. One team all had on green baseball caps, while another had on all red socks and white shoes. The last group everyone had on two different colors of socks and matching team shirts like ours, so no one was disqualified.

"We'll start with obstacle courses. The same course is set up in two columns so two teams can race. No one person or group of people can get ahead of the team by more than one obstacle. The whole team must cross the finish line for a finish. First up, you and you!" she said, pointing at the red socks and green caps team.

"Ok, I think the red socks are freshman," Macey said, watching them move to the starting line.

"The caps are seniors," Chase commented, and I saw two of the four senior guys that had come on the team.

"Who are we playing?" I asked.

"Seventh and eighth graders," Liz said, looking at the team with different colored socks. There was a mix of tall and short, guys and girls, and grade levels on that team. I recognized a few from the storm, and I knew some of them were really fast.

"Come on Bailee! You got this!"

"Let's go guys come on!"

"Go faster! You'll keep your balance longer!"

The people running the course and the team beside us were cheering each other on, and we watched as the struggled over some and eased over others.

The course started with a 15 foot wall built straight up with no handholds or footholds. There were three ropes on the other side for quick decent. Almost immediately after the wall was a ladder that led up to an obstacle twenty feet off the ground: skipping stones. After the skipping stones you remained in the air and crossed over the pond via a set of monkey bars. On the last bar you had to swing over a laser grid. There were two acrobat bars to grab hold of if you needed it. Once your team passed the laser grid, you had to run the last remaining hundred yards and jump three hurdles. The last twenty feet were set with booby traps and trip wires manned by a few security guards hiding in the bushes.

"Ok, so this might be semi difficult," I muttered, sliding my hands on my hips and tilting my head out of the sun's glare.

"Nah, we got this," Bex said.

On the course, the team of seniors was in the lead. Most of the team members had lost their hats along the way. They were jumping over the last two hurdles; the freshman were close behind, though, just starting the last stretch.

"I bet the seniors will win," Grant said.

"You're on," Jonas said. We all watched as the freshman crept up behind the seniors. The seniors jumped the last hurdle and started navigating the booby traps, while the freshman jumped the second to last hurdle.

Suddenly, a senior got stuck on one of the traps, and the whole team had to wait for her to get loose. The freshman caught up and started making their way through the dangerous last twenty feet.

It was close. The two teams kept switching places, and the seniors were the first to cross the finish line, but they still had two people left on the course one trap behind them. The freshman stumbled across the finish line .45 seconds before the other two seniors.

"And the freshman win! Prepare for the final match," my mom said, motioning them off the course and our two teams to the starting line.

"Let's do this!" Macey said.

"Ready, set, go!" My mother said as she blew the starting gun. The two teams took off running, and I noticed the other team hadn't decided how to get over the wall while they were standing on the side.

"Let's go. Liz first, then Bex," I said, backing a basic stunt group as the guys threw Liz up to the top of the wall. She grabbed the side and twisted, dropping her feet into the little level in between the back and front of the wall. We threw Bex next, and then Macey, and then Zach and I helped Grant get enough air to grab Bex and Macey's hands and climb over.

"Start going down!" Jonas said. Zach and Chase threw him up and he caught the edge. He dangled there for a moment before pulling himself over the edge. Chase jumped and pushed off the wall with one foot, landed on Zach's shoulders before pushing off again and grabbing the edge. Zach and I backed up and took a running start at the wall. With one mighty push off the wall, I managed to get enough air to grab Macey's hand. Zach had got enough to get the edge of the wall, and he easily swung into the level. He took my other hand and him and Macey pulled me up so I could grab the edge of the wall. I swung from side to side for a few seconds before managing to flip into the level. Bex, Liz, Grant, Jonas, and Chase had already slid to the bottom. Zach, Macey, and I grabbed the ropes and jumped over the back wall. I watched our opposing team as I slid to the ground; they were dropping down the other side now, too.

"Great job!" I said, breathless.

"We got to keep going!" Chase said, leading the way up the ladder. Everyone was quick to follow.

"One person on each stone at a time," we all said together.

"I'll go first," Chase said. He jumped off the platform and landed on his feet on the first stepping stone. Macey jumped after him as he left the first stone for the second. After Macey Grant jumped, and then Bex. After Bex Liz went, and then Jonas, and then me. The stones were wet and slick, far apart, and wobbly. I saw Chase leap for the platform on the other side and make it. Quickly the line in front of me moved up, and I leaped for the second one. My foot slid off as I jumped, and I knew I didn't have enough power to land the next platform.

I reached up and felt my fingertips slide off the slick stone, and I kicked at the pole holding it up as I fell. Suddenly, someone's hand slid around my wrist and my fall stopped, jarring my shoulder.

"Gallagher Girl," Zach said from above me. "You gotta' make that jump," he said, pulling me up slowly. Once I was high enough to grab the platform I helped him help me up. The platform swayed as we struggled to manage to keep both of our feet on the small stone.

"Thanks," I said, blushing.

"Nice save Zach!" I heard the rest of the guys yell, and I turned my head to see everyone on the end platform already. I blushed deeper.

"You guys go ahead, we'll be right there," Zach yelled back. "Ok, I'll jump first so if you manage to miss again I'll already be there," he told me, smirking.

"Sure," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He jumped off the stepping stone and landed the next one easily. I jumped off right behind him and landed perfectly on my feet. He caught me and steadied me and the wobbling platform before jumping again. We continued with this pattern until we had landed on the safe platform on the other side. I looked behind us and noticed that almost the whole other team had already caught up to us.

"Can you do the monkey bars?" Zach asked me, watching the back of Macey way ahead of us.

"Yep. Can you?"

Zach just looked at me and smirked. He grabbed my waist and lifted my up to the bars. I sighed and started swinging as fast as I could, quickly crossing over the pond and getting to the last bar. I took a deep breath, swung off as hard as I could and flipped gracefully over the laser grid. I reached up and grabbed the bar, swinging off of it and gaining more air. I flipped again twice before hitting the ground and fluently bending and falling to roll so I didn't hurt myself.

Bex, Macey, and Liz helped me to my feet as Zach came crashing down right where I was previously laying. The guys helped him up and we took off running. I heard the other team landing their own trapeze acts behind us, and we quickened our pace. We easily jumped over the three hurdles and slid to a stop in front of the traps.

"We got to keep going," Liz said.

So we started walking. "Jump!" I called, catching the reflection of a trip wire right where we were standing. We all jumped over it, and Macey called out, "DUCK!" as a giant foam padded metal bar swung out at head level. We all tucked into a dive roll and came up, twisting to the side to avoid another sweeper arm.

We all took no chances and dived over the last few inches of territory for the win. We all laid their laughing after my mom declared us winners, and I didn't realize I was laying on Zach until the laughter died down a few minutes later.

"Oh," I said in a high pitched voice, feeling my cheeks flush. Zach's emerald eyes, staring into mine, seemed to make everything OK though, so when he leaned in and kissed me once, I was just a little shocked.

"Oooohh!" Everyone chorused, and I rolled off him to the side and blushed some more.

I felt Zach get up beside me and heard everyone who wasn't standing already slowly get to their feet.

"Ok Cam, come on. We have a tournament to win," Bex said. I opened my eyes and grabbed her hand and jumped to my feet.

"The finals course is designed a little differently. The course is shared, although there are two of everything so you don't have to fight for each section. There are no rules other than you cannot intentionally harm an opponent, and at least two people from each team must cross the finish line to win. I will not be watching the beginning because I'm going to be starting up the volleyball game between these two. Any questions?"

We all joined each other at the started line and observed the moving platform in front of us that was our first obstacle, and the way to the top to start the second obstacle.

"No ma'am," Chase and a senior chorused, and the starting gun shot.

We took off running up the moving platform. It was actually pretty easy to make it to the top. Well, at least for us. The seniors seemed to be having some trouble. Macey, Chase, Liz, and Jonas took the lead and started the second obstacle: a vine swing. Ropes hung from metal frame and moved around. You had to swing from rope to rope to reach the other side.

We each grabbed a rope every time one came near us and just slowly made our way across. Somehow, I managed to be the first one to the other side, quickly followed by Macey. On the other side, two seniors dropped down, too, and I was surprised they had caught up so fast.

Macey and I moved on to the next obstacle, which happened to be the next to last one. A large laser grid made a dome over the area, and in the middle was a podium with a case over it. Past the grid was the finish line.

Liz and Chase ran up behind us.

"Whoa," they both said. Macey and I looked at each other and took off running. We slid like a softball player under the first and managed to dive-roll over the second laser. We got to our feet and crouched below the laser above us. Suddenly, the lasers started moving, and while dodging the now moving red lights, I saw a senior sitting on the grass above their own laser dome typing on a laptop.

"Liz, seven o'clock!" I yelled, ducking under a laser and jumping over another.

I heard Macey grunt and saw her doing a backhandspring over and under a few lasers, landing right next to the little podium. I quickly made my way to her and joined her at the podium.

All of a sudden, our lasers went away and I heard the seniors yelling. I looked over and saw theirs moving really fast at double the number.

"Ha!" I choked out, before working with Macey at the podium. We opened the class case and hit the little red button in the middle. A little ribbon rose from the stand, and we grabbed it and ran.

"Nice one Liz!" I yelled.

"Watch out!" I heard Bex and Liz yell together, and Macey and I slid to a stop. The lasers were back on our side. We slid under the last one and jumped to our feet.

"Run guys!" everyone behind us was yelling. Macey and I took off sprinting towards the finish line. 2.45 seconds later we broke through the ribbon marking the line and highfived. The seniors crossed almost right after us, and we gave them a high-five, too.

Our teams rejoined as we walked toward the side of the obstacle courses and watched the last two points of the volleyball game. Once the game was over, my mom turned to us.

"Who won?" she asked.

"We did!" we all cheered.

"Awesome, ready for a volleyball game?" she asked. We all crowded onto the sand volleyball court and took our spots. Zach and I had the front row, Liz, Jonas, and Macey had the middle row, and Bex, Grant, and Chase took the back with Bex serving.

"Serve Bex," we all called, and suddenly the ball was flying over the net. The seniors hit it back over, and it went right behind me.

"Got it!" Liz called. She hit it straight up.

"Got it!" I said, setting it over to Zach. He jumped up and spiked it straight down into the second row where no one was standing.

"Point!"

The game went on with points going back and forth. With three points left, it started to rain.

"Got it!" Bex called from the front row, nailing the ball back over, tying up the score at game point.

"Game point both ways!" my mom called, and everyone got serious. Zach served, someone hit it back over. Grant bumped it up, Chase set it, and Bex spiked it over. One of the guys in the middle hit it back and I called it.

"Mine!" I dove forward and knocked it over the net. It rolled over and someone on the front row managed to hit it back to right where I was supposed to be playing. It hit my back, and bounced back up.

"Play it!" I yelled.

Zach bumped it up to Bex and she spiked it again, and this time it didn't get hit back over. We had won that game.

"Alright switch out! We have to finish before it gets dark!" my mom yelled. The seniors walked off the court and the freshman walked on. Zach helped me to my feet and I wiped my rain soaked hair out of my face. We traded back to our original places and the game started again.

Again, we tied at game point. They served it over and I bumped it back. The front row set it and spiked it, and Zach nailed it over. They sent it flying back over and I ducked as the ball flew past my head.

Macey hit it, but fell into me in the process, so we both fell into the wet sandy mess.

"Got it," Bex yelled, sending it back over the net. The freshman sent it back over and it bounced off of Grant's shoulder to Zach who hit it my direction. I ducked my head and winced as it hit. Macey and I watched from the ground as it sailed out to the net. It hit the net and started to roll over, but it just didn't have enough force.

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, and the ball rolled over the edge of the net and hit the sand on the other side.

"Oh," Bex started.

"My," Liz added.

"Gosh," Macey finished.

"Nice one Gallagher Girl," Zach said, helping me up to my feet. I laughed, and he brushed the sand off my cheek with his thumb.

"Let's all get inside before it starts to rain harder," my mom said, watching me and Zach.

"We won!" Macey cheered, jumping randomly on Bex's back. Bex caught her then dropped her, and Macey huffed. She ran and jumped on Chase's back, who laughed and let her stay there.

Zach took my hand and twirled me around. I jumped on his back and he caught up to Chase.

"Hey Macey," I said, laughing.

"Hey Cam," she said, smiling. We went up the stairs and into the newly finished school, joining the crowd of kids. Everyone broke up to go to their rooms, and Macey and I had to leave our free rides.

"Have fun today girls?" Bex teased, throwing pajama's at me.

"Mhm," I muttered, walking toward the bathroom. Macey said something behind me, but I didn't catch it.

**I tried to add some Zammie and Casey to this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think~i love reviews. Any ideas you guys have would be cool too! :) Check out my story Mistakes if you have time, I'm working on a new chapter for that right now. Thanks.**

**Lemonn-Limee**


	8. Chapter 7: New Lesson

**_Ok guys, I know you probably want to get right to the story, but I owe an apology. I've been very busy and unable to think up a chapter idea. So here's the next chapter, almost a full 2 weeks late, and a little short, but there should be Zammie in the next chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: Disclaimed._**

**Chapter 7**

**CPOV**

"Zachary Goode, if you do not stop flicking me this _instant…!" _I said through clenched teeth.

"You'll what, Gallagher Girl?" he said, smirking.

"I wouldn't mess with her. Not only is she sleep deprived," Macey said, referring to our late night and early morning due to midnight conversations, "but she also knows how to kill you in fourteen different ways, not including flat out kicking your butt."

"Maybe he should mess with her. That'd be fun to see," Bex joked.

I just rolled my eyes and Zach scoffed. He continued flicking me.

I caught his fingers and bent them backwards; a small flicker of pain flashed across his face before he rolled him eyes and smirked.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Gallagher Girl."

"Mr. Solomon, do I have permission to break Zach's fingers?" I asked, dead serious. My friends choked back laughter, and the guys' eyes got big.

"No Cameron. He needs all ten of his fingers intact," Mr. Solomon said, looking back into the back of the van where we were all sitting on the floor. The van had been rigged, and the seats were taken out so more people could fit by sitting in the floor. The four of us girls were sitting with our backs against the trunk door. The guys sat with their backs on the side doors, two on each side. My feet were close enough to Zach that he felt the need to flick them nonstop for the past two hours.

"Oh come on Solomon, you're no fun!" Bex and Macey chorused.

"I don't know," Zach muttered, pulling his hand back out of my grasp and rubbing his fingers.

"What are we doing today anyways? This ride is so long," Liz asked.

"We are learning a skill used commonly in the spy world."

"And that would be?" Grant asked.

I watched Zach out of the corner of my eye as he inched his fingers across the carpeted floor towards my ankle.

Solomon looked in his rearview mirror before swerving to the left and taking a sharp turn onto a dirt lane.

"You'll see."

Zach bent his finger back and released it. I nonchalantly rolled my ankle to the side so it missed. He inched closer again, and flicked. I bent my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on the top. Now he couldn't even reach me without moving. He gave up, and I relaxed back into the door behind me.

The road started to get rough, and I looked around at the others in the van. They were all bouncing around like me. Suddenly the car came to a sliding stop, and another van just like it were heard skidding on the gravel around us.

"Where are we?" we all asked as we got out of the van and looked around. We were in a large dirt and gravel clearing with a dirt road leading in both directions. Around us was a thick wood of pine trees making it impossible to see or hear the interstate.

"We are at a CIA owned back road used to train young spies in the act of surviving a car wreck," Dr. Steve said, appearing out of the woods surrounding us. All the guys stood up straighter and seemed to actually pay attention.

"So we get to wreck cars?" Bex asked, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Tina, Mick, Anna, and five others looked at her like she was crazy.

"Are you sure we won't, like, I don't know, die?" Tina asked.

"You'll be excellent!" Mr. Smith said, and we all choked on our spit.

"So we are actually being in a car when it wrecks? Like for real?" we all asked. I felt like I did before my last gymnastics meet when I was in sixth grade; I did a double backhandspring- back tuck- full off the beam. I was a nervous wreck.

"Yes," Dr. Steve, Mr. Solomon, and Mr. Mockowitz, who was driving the other van, all said.

We all looked at each other, then at the vans, and then back to each other. Grant, Jonas, Chase, and Zach all shrugged, and it was like their confidence was spreading because Bex lost that look of half terror-half excitement and Macey pulled her hair up into a ponytail in preparation. I stood up a little straighter and brushed my hair back behind my ears.

"Alright, so what's going to happen is half of you will be in each van. Dr. Steve has a car hidden on up the road that's going to intercept your van at some point. Your driver will swerve to avoid him, causing the van to wreck. Your job is not to die. If you fail, well, that would be bad."

Without another word, we all climbed back into the vans we arrived in.

"Pretend nothing is going to happen," Solomon said from the front seat.

"How do we do that?" I asked, looking at my friends in the back.

"Let's play a game," Grant said.

"Like what?" Bex asked skeptically.

The car started to move forward, and I bit my bottom lip.

"A word game. You have to say a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word. You can't repeat words," Jonas said.

"Do you guys do this when you get bored?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, sometimes," Chase answered.

"Nerds," Macey said, and I laughed.

"Giant," Zach said, ignoring us.

"Tim-Buk-Tu," Jonas said.

"Umbrella," Grant shouted.

"Abracadabra," Chase said, passing it on to Macey.

"Alakazam," Macey said, rolling her eyes.

"Magnificent!" Bex added dramatically.

"Turtle," I said, ending the magic show streak.

"Elegant," Liz said, ending the first round and sending it back to Zach.

"Tiger."

"Relish."

"Hope."

"Egg."

"Gnome."

"Elephant."

"Teeth."

"Hold on!" Liz screamed as the car jerked to the right and rolled. We all lied flat on our stomachs and put our hands over our heads as the van rolled over and we hit the door with loud pops that sounded like the metal was denting. The van rolled twice more, all the way over onto its top, and we all laid there for a moment, too panic stricken to move.

"Is everyone OK?" someone finally asked, and I sat up and slowly scooted off whoever I was laying on.

"I'm good," we all chorused, and we all started moving at once. Chase helped Macey, who was bleeding from a cut on her elbow, up off the floor, and Liz and Jonas tried to open the doors.

"They're stuck," they said, and I rolled my eyes. Of course they were stuck. Nothing could be simple.

"Try the back," I said, crawling over to it. Zach joined me and we popped the upside down handle on the trunk. With a little helpful shoves, the door fell open, us on top of it.

"Oofff," I grunted as we hit the ground. Zach stood up quickly and helped me to my feet. Everyone started emerging from the back, and the last one to emerge was Solomon, our uninjured, unshaken, driver.

"Good job," he congratulated us as we all shook off the sudden heart-attack-giving disaster.

He walked away, leaving us all standing there beside the upside down van.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, I declare this lesson a success. No one has been severely injured, and you all now have experience in the art of wrecking, rolling, and surviving, in a van. Boys, I'll be checking in from time to time. Don't disappoint Blackthorne," Dr. Steve said before disappearing back into the woods.

"Now, if everyone would please get back into the vans, we have a long ride back to Gallagher that we need to make by nightfall," Solomon said, herding us all back into the two vans that we had all worked together to reright back on four wheels.

We all sat Indian style in the back of the van, exhaustion and stiffness evident. We all laid our heads back against the walls and closed our eyes. I expected to get an extra two hours of sleep in before I had to stay up all night and do homework, but apparently someone else had other plans.

"Oh my gosh!" Liz said as she slid across the floor into the other side of the van. The tires screeched and the van swerved. A loud noise, much like a gunshot, sounded. I screamed, and it rang out two more times, the last breaking the window above my head.

"Get down!" the guys yelled, and we all ducked lower to the ground and covered the back of our heads. The van swerved again, this time the other way, and the van came up on two wheels, almost flipping.

"This so isn't cool," Bex muttered as a gun fired again, this time hitting the side of the door, where it meets the solid wall, and it came off the hinges. The attacker fired again, hitting the same door, and it fell completely off. Solomon sped up, and we all ducked towards the back of the van out of sight from the door. The van swerved again, the tires screeched, and I fell toward the open door.

"Cam!" everyone yelled, and I tried to roll off to the side, but I didn't have time. I caught the edge of the opening on my way out and screamed. My feet brushed the road, and I could smell the rubber of my tennis shoes burning.

I closed my eyes and tightened my grip. I lifted my legs up higher so they wouldn't hit the ground. I felt someone's fingers wrap around my wrist, and I took the chance to loosen my grip enough to bring my other arm up and grab the floor of the van. Still with my eyes closed, too afraid to see how fast we were moving, I allowed myself to be pulled back in. The van swerved when I was almost in, aiding in the process. I fell forward on top of whoever was helping me, and I finally opened my eyes.

"Thanks," I said, breathless. A pair of emerald eyes met mine, and I smiled. His hair was windblown into funky spikes, which made me scared to look at mine.

"No problem," he said, smirking. I laid there for a moment to catch my breath.

"Guys?" Chase asked, breaking me out of my trance.

"What?" we all said.

"That wasn't a real attack," he said.

"Good observation," Mr. Solomon said from the front seat.

"The gun was only firing paintballs," Chase added.

"But if I would have really fallen out of the van, I would have really been hurt," I said, running my fingers subconsciously over the burned rubber on my shoes.

"Well, yeah. We didn't plan for the door to fall off and someone fall out," Solomon said.

"That's good to know," I muttered, still breathing heavily.

"Is anyone hurt?" Solomon checked.

"No," we all said, although all of us had at least one bruise or scrape that was oozing blood. Or shoes with holes where the toes should be.

"Good. That's one more lesson down, a few more to go."

"Till what?" Zach asked, sitting up and grabbing my hand. It was oozing blood and a slightly yellow-white substance from cuts made by the van door.

"Never mind," Solomon said in a voice that was meant to keep us from asking anymore questions.

"Be sure to wash those cuts," Solomon told me when we arrived back at Gallagher. I just nodded and continued heading for my room. The guys had left us as soon as the van parked saying they had something important to do. The four of us had started walking slowly to our room. Bex, Macey, and Liz were arguing over the best color to with bright green, but I was taking note in the walls and floors, looking for places that secret passageways could be.

"Cam, your hands are nasty. Do _not _wipe them off on those jeans," Macey said right as I was about to put them in my pockets. I sighed and left them at my sides, careful not to let them touch my clothes.

We got to our room, and I went straight to the bathroom and ran them under hot water. Macey found the bottle of alcohol, and I got out a few cotton balls. I cleaned my hands up and put bandaids on the worst of them. On my way out of the bathroom there was a knock on our door. I sat on my bed and let Liz get it.

"Hey girls!" Grant said loudly, walking in.

"Guess what!" Chase said, flopping backwards on Macey's bed.

"What?" We all asked, sliding our hands onto our hips. They all had this stupid expression on their faces.

"We know the date of the next town day," Jonas said.

"When?" We all asked.

"Next Saturday."

"Sweet!" We all cheered.

**_I have the flu. A review would make me feel awesome! :)_**


	9. Chapter 8: Perfect Ending to a Date

**Chapter 8**

**CPOV**

The wind was blowing lightly and the sun was shining. I was sitting outside eating my lunch on the front lawn instead of inside, trying to get a late spring/early summer tan. The girls had just left to go grab something they had forgot in our room, but I decided to stay out in the sun a little longer.

"Hey Gallagher Girl," a familiar voice said from behind me. Zach joined me on the grass, laying back and resting his head on his hands and closing his eyes.

"What's up?" I asked, finishing my sandwich.

"The sky," he said, and I rolled my eyes.

"So, tomorrow we get to go into town," he started a little nervously.

"Yeah…" I drug out, trying to help him along.

"Well, I was wondering if…" he paused.

"Yeah…" I said again.

"Would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Well, see, I uh, already told," I started out nervously. His eyes popped open and he frowned.

"I'm kidding! Yes, I will go on a date with you," I said, laughing.

He sat up and smirked. "Good," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"Cam, you coming to class?" Macey, Bex, and Liz all said, running out of the front door of the school.

"Oh, right. Yeah," I said, realizing the time and joining them on their way to the P&E Barn.

"Ohmygosh!" I accidentally yelled, my voice going up at the end as my face suddenly came a centimeter away from meeting the mat.

"What's wrong Cameron?" the teacher asked from across the barn as I rolled out Bex's way as she worked on her standing back-full.

"The mat came too close to my face too fast, sir," I managed to get out between breaths.

"Jump harder," he offered.

I went and joined Liz in the back of the second line. By the time I reached the front I had fully recovered.

"Alright Cam, try a fronthandspring step out round-off double backhandspring back tuck, round-off forward back-full."

I swallowed and backed up into the corner. With the walls on either side of my back, I went up on my tip toes and bounced. With a deep breath I shot forward and three steps later was doing everything he had just told me to do. I made sure my last round-off was powerful and I set right for the full, but while in the air someone slid under me and someone else came from the side and launched a kick that missed my face by an inch, and I stopped twisting. I fell and hit the ground in a pushup position with my nose touching the mat. I quickly flipped over and regained my feet.

Zach launched a kick for my face again, and I ducked. Everyone was starting to pair up for some battle training, and we kept at it. I punched and nailed him in the stomach, and he got his revenge by knocking my feet out from under me. My ankles hit each other, and I knew I'd have a bruise, more than likely a large purple one.

We rolled on the floor for a few minutes until I managed to get the upper hand and pin him. We called it and I helped him to his feet.

"You should work on that full. It's a little low," Zach said, smirking.

"Shutup Goode!" I said, rolling my eyes and shoving him away.

"Good class guys!" the teacher called and everyone else ended their fights and grabbed a water on their way out the door.

"Ok so that chocolate mousse is to die for!" Macey exclaimed, falling back on her bed.

"It was amazing!" Liz copied her, laying forward with her head on her hands facing the door.

"We have better things to talk about than dessert!" Bex said, walking over to the closet.

"Like what?" we all asked.

"Like, what we're going to wear to town tomorrow! Or what Miss Cam's going to wear on her date!"

"Bex!" I cried, jumping up.

"Cam! You have a date?" Liz and Macey screeched.

"Well don't act like it's so hard to believe!" I said, pretending to be hurt.

"Is it Zach?" Liz asked. I nodded.

"Where are they going?" Macey asked Bex, jumping up and running to join her at the closet.

"I don't know," I answered, walking over and joining them.

"Try this on!" Macey said, ripping some clothes off some hangers and shoving them at me. I walked to the bathroom to obey.

"Cam! You look amazing!" Liz said. I had to admit, I was kind of pretty. My hair was perfectly straight and my bangs were pulled back with a little bump in the front kept there with a small green butterfly clip. I was wearing a semi-short jean skirt with an orange and white halter tank matched with a light three-quarter length sleeve white sweater and orange converse.

"Put these on," Macey said, handing me my lucky friendship bracelet from each of them and a ring I always wore. I slid them all on and looked in the mirror.

My makeup had just been done, and I had to give Macey credit. Everything was so light. My eyes had a thin almost undetectable line of dark eyeliner accented with mascara. My face was zit free for the first time in months, and my cheeks were naturally just the right pink.

"I look hot," I said, smiling.

"You do!" everyone said together, and I laughed. "Wait!" I yelled, looking over their outfits, too. "Someone else is on a date!" I sang.

"We all are," they responded, and I felt stupid.

Liz was wearing a light cotton spring dress with leggings under it and converse with her hair pulled into a bun with curled tendrils hanging down on each side. Bex was wearing skinny jeans and a green and blue tank top that looked really cute. Her hair was down and scrunched. Macey was, well Macey, wearing a white cotton skirt and a navy blue tshirt with glitter decorating the front and her hair curled.

"Smile!" Liz sang, setting up her camera on the windowsill and running over beside us. I bent my outside leg and put my hand on my hip; Macey quickly ran a hand through her hair and slid her arms over Bex and my shoulders; Bex did the same as Macey on her and Liz's shoulders, and Liz did the same as me on the other side. We all smiled and the camera flashed.

"Ok, we're going to be late!" Liz said.

"Take your purse!" Macey said, handing us all purses that matched our outfits filled with emergency Comms, weapons, and napotine patches.

We walked down the hall and out the door surrounded by every other student body member on our way to town. I abandoned my friends when I got to the sidewalk, turning left when they all went right. I walked past a few small stores and around the corner to a small park. Zach was waiting on me.

"Hey Gallagher Girl," he said, standing up and walking over to me. He was wearing khaki cargo shorts and a red polo with his hair spiked up.

"Hello," I said, smiling. I met him halfway and he took my hand, and we started walking.

"I hope you're hungry," he said, and I nodded. I had purposely ate like nothing all day, saving my appetite for the date. We walked in silence for a while, and I hop-skipped, crossing my feet every now and then.

"Having fun?" he asked when I did it again, and I laughed.

"Yes, I am," I said, smiling big. We rounded a corner and he stopped walking. "What are…" I started, but then I stopped talking. The building behind me had a small outside seating area, and that's where we ended up eating.

The meal was delicious! Afterwards we walked to the large barn behind the civic center where a large crowd was gathered. Zach paid the person attending the door a few bucks, and he let us in. Inside, music was blasting from surround sound speakers, a large table was set up on the far end covered with drinks and snacks, and the whole ground floor was occupied by highly dressed dancing bodies.

Zach and I moved to a corner and sort of bounced to the beat for a while, just laughing and talking.

"We're going to slow things down for a while," the DJ said, and the music slowed down and everyone started partnering up.

"Do you want to dance?" Zach asked, reaching out for my hand. I nodded, and we joined the crowd in the slow swaying motion. My elbows rested on Zach's shoulders and his hands wrapped all the way around my waist as we inched closer and closer to each other.

Oh, he smelled so good! And it felt so great to be in his arms. He kept slowly wrapping them just a bit tighter so we would be a little closer, and eventually we ended up close enough for me to lay my head on his shoulder.

The music changed, and the DJ's mike screeched before his voice could be heard. "Now, let's see who knows how to dance! Let's do the Tango! Please make way for those couples who do know how!"

The floor quickly cleared, and only two couples remained. Zach pulled me, against my will, to the middle of the floor. The music started up and we went through the steps with perfect form, me smiling the whole time, holding in a laugh. At the end Zach twirled me, and I fell backward. He caught me dramatically and quickly kissed me before pulling me back up.

A quick burst of laughter escaped my lips, and I quickly covered my mouth with my hand.

The crowd applauded as the dancing couples left the center, and everyone quickly filled it back in. Soon we were surrounded again and the music sped back up.

"Cam!" I heard someone yell, and not used to hearing my name outside of Gallagher or my family, I slowly turned to see who was yelling for me.

"Cameron!" I heard another voice yell from the other side of the barn, and I twisted my head around that way.

"Cammie!" a third person shouted, and I jerked my head towards the door, hoping for better luck this time seeing the person who was yelling my name.

"It's Bex and Grant," Zach said, staring off towards the first direction my name had come from.

"Liz and Jonas," I said, finally catching sight of Liz making her way through the crowd from the door.

"So the other one has to be…" I started.

"Me!" Macey said, grabbing my shoulder. I jumped and turned around to face her.

"What's up?" I asked, sensing the desperate rush to find me.

"First of all, you are a very hard person to find," Macey said, panting slightly. Chase showed up behind her and grabbed her hand.

"Get to the point Macey," I said.

"We gotta hide!" Bex said from behind me, and I turned again to face her and Grant who had just made their way through the crowd.

"Like now!" Liz and Jonas said together, sliding to a stop beside us.

"Why?" Zach and I asked simultaneously.

"We have tails," they all said.

"Or, I guess, had them. We lost them on the way here," Liz added.

I quickly scanned the building for hiding spots and exits while Zach looked around for tails of our own. I noticed the top floor, covered in hay and stacked up with hay bales had a small door opening on the back wall, and it was the perfect place to hide.

"We don't have tails," Zach said, sounding confused.

"Hiding spot," Macey said.

"Now," Bex added. They kept discreetly looking around and watching the door.

"Follow me," I said, starting to move my way through the crowd towards the small ladder I had seen leaned against the loft floor.

With only a few feet to go, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I automatically knew it wasn't Zach because the grip was too tight and too dangerously close to my pressure point. I twisted away and with only a quick glance back to see who it was, started running.

The guys were behind me, and Macey, Liz, and Bex were gaining ground, coming from a different angle so as not to attract attention to ourselves. We met at the ladder and the guys made us go first.

We all climbed up and hid behind the first layer of hay bales. A few minutes later we saw three guys walk in the barn and start looking around.

"Tails are at the door," I muttered, watching for the guy that had grabbed my neck. Sure enough, the three guys met up with him and they fanned out, searching for us.

We started crawling and sneaking across the loft to the upper door. When we reached it, Zach slowly pushed the door open while the girls got a small repelling system set up. I hooked up the ropes and we went down the back of the barn two at a time.

After reaching the bottom, we grabbed all our stuff and sprinted to a hiding place behind a few trees.

"They're waiting for us!" Bex said, catching sight of two of the men standing by the exits and entrance.

"Let them wait," we all said together before running on behind a few more trees. Once we were out of sight, we got on the sidewalk and walked quickly towards the school.

I made sure my steps were silent so I could hear if someone came up behind us. Zach took my hand, and I said out loud, "What a nice way to end a date." Everyone laughed.


	10. Chapter 9: Captives

**Chapter 9**

**No1sPOV**

_The girl in the mirror was in no way the girl looking into it. Her hair was short, above her shoulders, and a deep brown that was almost black. Her eyes were sunken in, her skin was pulled tight over her cheek bones, and her bar arms and legs were as thin as sticks. If one looked hard enough, maybe, in the color of her eyes and shape of her mouth one could find the original girl-the one looking into the mirror. Maybe there one could see the slight resemblance she bore to her father and mother. Look elsewhere, though, and one would never know._

Cam woke up covered in cold sweats and breathing hard, like she had just run five miles. She brushed her wet hair off her sticky forehead and sat up, staring around in her room in darkness. Outside the window the moon shone full, outlined by stars against the dark blue sky.

Cam slid her feet out from under the blankets and into the flip-flops on the floor. She grabbed a hoodie off the end of her bed and slowly walked towards the door. She silently turned the knob and slowly opened the door, pulling up slightly so it couldn't squeak.

"If you're not back in ten minutes I'm coming looking for you," Bex whispered threateningly from the opposite side of the room.

Cam, although startled, just nodded her head once and slid on out the door. Breathing heavily, Cam walked quickly down the hall and down the stairs to the double doors that led the way out of the school. She needed to clear her head, and the easiest way to do that was to get some fresh air.

After making sure no one else was up, she quickly bypassed the security system and opened the front door just wide enough for her to slip out of. She slid her hood on her head for added secrecy and silently closed the heavy door behind her. Once outside, oxygen seemed to reach her brain faster, and her heartbeat finally slowed and she finally relaxed.

Cam bent her knees and slid her back along the wall beside the door, sinking to a seat. Her hair, which was hanging in stringy tendrils around her face, was quickly pulled back into a low bun at the nape of her neck inside her hood. She rested her chin on her knees and faced into the slight breeze that was blowing the leaves in the trees.

_Who was that in her dream? Was that her? What was wrong? How did that happen? When was that going to be? Where was she? Why did she dream that? _ The questions related to her dream swarmed through her head as she stared into the woods surrounding the mansion.

Suddenly something caught her eye, and Cam slowly moved her eyes to the spot where the bushes had rustled. She squinted against the darkness, hiding her own eyes' reflection and making it easier to see through the night.

There! At the edge of the trees, ducked down into the brush, was a person. Cam couldn't make out many features, except that the person in question had a hood pulled over their head, too, and that they were wearing tennis shoes and weren't aware of her sitting there, staring.

The wind blew, and the mystery person moved their gaze along the school, analyzing the windows, doors, bricks, trap doors, and roof angle it seemed. Their penetrating eyes skipped over her, only to dart back and stare. Cam let her eyes meet theirs, and she held her breath as she made out the color, a bright teal, before they turned and dashed through the woods, leaving little proof they were there at all.

That morning, at exactly six-oh-seven AM, the door to the girl's room was bust through, and none of them had time to react before they were blindfolded and tied. Their wrists were bound with thick rope, and their feet were tied tightly together with that rope tied to their hands so they had minimal movement options.

The girls yelled, cussed, screamed bloody murder, and bit until their attackers gagged them with bandanas. They were quickly picked up and carried out of their room and out of the school via the roof. Earplugs were stuffed in their ears and they were taken onto a helicopter that took off as soon as the captives were on board.

There was only so much struggling and resistance a girl could show when blind, deaf, and mute to the world. With hands and feet bound and connected, there was no move, no action, no plan, no anything to get them out of their situation. They just had to wait.

While watching their captives struggle, the attackers got an evil plan. They had full permission to do as they pleased as long as the girls were brought in one piece, bound, gagged, and without a clue as to where they were and who they were with. The quickly talked it over, and then they sprang into action.

The first one to go chose Cam. He sat down beside her and grabbed her tied hands gently inside his own. Holding on while she pulled back and talked against the gag, he leaned in and breathed once, and then twice, around her face. She jerked back and twisted in every direction, but her attacker held her still. He moved one hand to her waist and leaned in closer.

With a laugh on the edge of his lips, he touched his to hers, first quickly, and then more steady and forcefully. The gag stopping Cam from speaking only covered the corners of her mouth. Cam, shocked out of her mind and unable to do a thing about what was happening, sat limp, waiting for it to end.

Outside of her attacker's head, he could hear the snickers of his teammates. He pulled back slowly, drawing his hand slowly across her cheek before standing back up and joining them, standing around watching the girls squirm, struggle, and try unsuccessfully to untie their wrists and ankles.

**CPOV**

Sitting on the floor of some_thing_, going some_where,_ tied up by some_body_ who was _probably_ talking about her and her friends like they were pet dogs was not how I planned to spend my morning. But that's what actually happened. I guess being a Gallagher Girl you've got to expect the unexpected. Even after saying this to myself a thousand times in five minutes, I never expected some jerk to sit beside me and hold my hand; that jerk to lean in and wrap his arm around my waist; that jerk to KISS me! While I was gagged, and not to mention, taken!

A few minutes later, I realized anew how much you didn't know about the world around you when you were blind, deaf, and unable to explore your surroundings. And I realized I didn't know if my best friends were with me or not, because I couldn't call out and ask.

**No1sPOV**

The helicopter ride was six hours, forty-five minutes, and thirty-nine seconds long. With forty-five minutes left, the attackers stood up and stretched, walking around the small space of the helicopter. The girl's stomachs were growling nonstop, and had been since about nine in the morning, three hours ago.

They all walked over to the bag hiding under a seat and pulled out mini boxes of cereal, four small cups of yogurt, and four spoons.

"We can't untie them," one of them said, and they nodded in response. If they were untied then there would be no chance of getting them back under control.

"Earplugs," one said, and everyone walked over and removed the earplugs out of the girl's ears. They gave them a moment to get use to the sudden level of sound from the helicopters propellers.

"Alright, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. We are coming close to a landing, and we were ordered not to let you land hungry. If you say one word to each other while you have the ability to speak, you will thoroughly regret it. So, well, were going to feed you now." They chuckled, and the girls rolled their eyes behind their blindfolds. They listened as their attackers opened what sounded like yogurt or pudding cups, and suddenly, someone was sitting in front of each of them.

They took a deep breath as the rag that had been tied tightly around their mouths was removed and they could actually move their mouths.

"Open," their captivators jokingly said, and the girls, reluctantly, obediently opened their mouths. They closed around a spoon, taking all the delicious fruit flavored yogurt off, waiting for more to satisfy their empty stomachs.

Forty-five minutes quickly passed, and the girls were regagged, their bindings tied slightly tighter, and their earplugs replaced. The helicopter landed and they were led off, shivering in their pajamas and barefeet. Someone was nice enough to remove their earplugs as the helicopter pulled away.

"I see you were successful," a well-known voice said. "Welcome ladies, to Washington D.C."

Blindfolds were removed, gags were untied, but binds remained intact. The girls scowled, clearly upset and angered, by the sight of their attackers, and not at all perturbed at the fact they were standing in the middle of the Lincoln Memorial at noon in pajamas.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait! But its up now! Read and review please! **


	11. Chapter 10: Yeah, and Who said?

**Chapter 10**

**No1s POV**

"This is _not_ Washing D.C.," the girls chorused after a few stunned moments of silence.

"Correct," Mr. Solomon said, walking a small circle around them. "This is a simulator," he added.

The girls shivered in the wind that blew around them. The guys moved simultaneously, shedding their jackets and draping them over the girls' bare shoulders.

"Why are we tied?" Macey asked, shifting her weight to one side and lifting her bound wrists in emphasis.

"So we could get you here without hurting ourselves," Chase said.

"Ever heard of waking someone up and asking them to come?" Bex asked, raising her voice.

"What fun would that have been?" Solomon joked, raising his hand and letting it drop, giving the signal the guys could start unknotting ropes. The guys quickly untied the ropes and once free, the girls delivered bruising blows to their arms.

"Jerk!" Cam half yelled, nailing Zach again for the kiss on the helicopter.

"Oww," he complained, rubbing his arm.

"Thanks," Liz said, rubbing her red wrists.

"Ok can we change? And maybe get some real food?" Cam asked, looking down at her choice of pajamas the night before. At two o'clock in the morning, sweats rolled up to mid-thigh and cami covered by a hoodie seemed like a nice choice. Without the hoodie and shoes though, she was freezing and looked like a slob. Her hair was still pulled back into a bun at the back of her neck, and it was falling down in semi curly strings. Her friends were wearing a mixture of sweats, Sofees, and old ratty Tshirts; she really shouldn't be the one complaining.

Macey's hair was perfectly straight, as usual, and Bex and Liz quickly pulled their messy hair into a ponytail with hairties they had found on their wrists. Solomon nodded and the amazingly real hologram of DC faded away, leaving them in a large empty room.

**CPOV**

The room was filled with artificial light since it was windowless, and there was absolutely no furniture. Solomon led us to a door that, after entering a code he kept concealed, finally opened. Through the door he led us down a hall and around a bunch of twists and turns and up two flights of stairs and down one and through a few more locked doors to a hall of half open cubby-type rooms.

"There's enough for everybody. This hall is yours," he said, and then exited through the locked door.

"Are we seriously locked in here?" Macey asked, staring at the door.

"You did not just ask that," Liz and Jonas said together, faking hurt.

"I want this one," I said, ignoring them and poking my head around the corner of a few of the rooms. I had stopped at the second one on the right. After a further investigation of closets and bathrooms, the girls called the rest of the right side rooms and the guys took the left.

"See you later!" we all yelled, and I closed the door to my new room so I could change.

I ran a brush through my hair first and quickly French-braided it back out of my face. After a quick decision, I traded my sweats for a different pair of sweats, and through on an old Tshirt and a different sweatshirt. It seemed like most of our clothes from Gallagher had been brought here.

I took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall to rest a minute, when the next thing I know I'm falling on my butt into Liz's room.

"AGH!" we both scream bloody murder until we realize who it is.

"Oh! Here," Liz said, offering me her hand to help me up off the floor. The next several minutes were spent discovering the secret passageways that led from room to room, and the one that hid under my bed that led to the guys' rooms.

"Padlock," I said, reaching for the lock Macey was handing me. I set it to 3-1-1-3, the number of the letters for my initials, and locked the door leading to the passageway so the boys couldn't sneak up on us tonight.

"Cam, you were supposed to change clothes," Macey moaned afterwards, looking at my choice of apparel.

"I did," I said, smiling.

"Sure," Macey said, rolling her eyes.

"Who wants to explore this place?" Bex said, breaking up the argument before it got started.

"Me!" we all chorused, and we all walked back to our rooms to get shoes. I pulled on black low cut socks and my black and purple Asics and slipped out my door into the hallway. The end of the hallway was a dead-end, a wall with no secret door or anything. The door Solomon left from, though, was a whole other story.

Without telling the boys where we were going, we silently ran to the code and let Liz punch in the four number system she had figured out by the sound of the keys. The door opened without alarm, and we all released a breath I didn't know we had been holding.

"Left or right?" Bex asked, poking her head around both ways.

"Left," Macey decided, and we eased through the door and to the left side along the wall. Once the door closed, we moved to the center of the hall and walked down with our backs straights and chins high. Our lips never moved, but we still spoke in near-silent whispers.

We came to another hall, and this time, we ran right smack into somebody.

"Oh! Gosh! I'm so sorry," Liz started, backing away slowly from the tall man we had collided with. None of us were short, but this guy was at least a foot taller than even Bex.

"Should you be walking these halls?" he asked in a deep, low voice, and we all nodded in unison. Of course we should be; we were spies placed in a new location with no knowledge of anything but the passcodes to get around. What'd they expect us to do? Sit and play video games?

"Are you sure?" he asked again, narrowing his eyes the slightest bit.

"Yes sir," I said, smiling a little. He nods with a knowing expression on his face and continues walking the other way.

"So, Liz, know that passcode?" Macey asks, staring at a wall with three code systems locking the door.

"Nope?" Liz answered, staring at the systems as if she were memorizing…the system number!

I whipped out my new phone (which had conveniently been left in my room for my use at this station) and handed it to Liz. She was halfway through the hack when we heard footsteps behind us. By the time we turned around, Solomon had us in sight. He didn't necessarily look happy.

"Rooms," he barked like an angry father who had just caught his naughty daughter making out with a boy he had banned from the house.

"But…" Bex started.

"Now!" he finished her statement for her.

"Wow," Macey rhymed, standing with her arms crossed and her weight on her left leg.

"Go, ladies," Solomon said again, and we all dejectedly walked back the way we had come.

Once back in our room hallway, Solomon shut the door and we heard an automatic click lock the doors, and then we went crazy.

"ZACH!" I yelled as loud as possible at his closed door.

"GRANT!" Bex copied, only her yell was slightly more British than mine.

"JONAS!" Liz knocked over and over on his door.

"CHASE!" Macey screamed half-enthusiastically.

"WHAT?" they all chorused together as the doors opened at the same time.

"We need to talk. Now," I demanded, grabbing his hand and dragging him across the hall into my room. "Pardon the mess," I added, throwing my suitcase to the floor and shoving it under my bed. I closed my closet door. I didn't make my room a mess, but whoever had brought my stuff had.

"What's up Cammie?" Zach asked, grabbing my wrist and slowing me down.

"Macey!" Chase was saying as she brought him into the room. Bex, Grant, Liz, and Jonas all followed and we all sat down.

"Girls! Spill!" all the guys said, and we all took a deep breath.

"Ok, so we went exploring through the building, and…"

"How'd you get out of the hallway?" Grant asked.

"We knew the password," Liz answered.

"Anyways," I started again. "We were walking up the halls and everyone acted like they knew we weren't supposed to be there but they were supposed to pretend they thought we were. And then Solomon caught up to us and he like, ordered, us to go back to the rooms. I don't get it," I said.

"Yeah, if we get out of a locked CIA room, shouldn't he be like, I don't know, proud, or something?" Bex said.

"Yeah, and if were locked in a room wouldn't he expect us to try to get out?" Macey added.

"Yeah, and even if we weren't supposed to, he wouldn't normally be so rude," Liz put in her two-sense.

"Girls," Zach tried.

"Yeah, and why are we even here?" I spouted off again.

"Yeah, and why are we locked up?" Bex added again.

"Guys," Grant interrupted.

"Yeah, and why is the back of the hallway a one-way window?" Macey jumped in. We all turned out heads to face her, but Liz kept going.

"Yeah, and why is there _nothing_ and I mean absolutely _nothing_ in the CIA Database that I can reach about this?" Liz added in from behind her computer screen.

"Girls!" Jonas said.

"Yeah, and why is…" I was interrupted by Zach putting his hand over my mouth and grabbing my hand with his other.

"Girls, shutup!" Chase said in the silence, and we all closed our mouths and grew quiet.

"Who said we were in a CIA building?" Zach started.

"Who said we aren't here for some important reason? Maybe we broke some law, or maybe we have a mission," Chase added.

"Who said the one way wall isn't just there to freak us out?" Grant said.

"Who said the information isn't either Top Secret Classified or Clearance Level you haven't broke yet?"

"Who said Solomon isn't just stressed and busy?"

"Who said…" I interrupted Zach.

"Ok. Ok. I get it," I said.

"Who said…" Zach was interrupted this time by Bex, Liz, and Macey together.

"We get it Zach!" they yelled together.

"Hey! Hey! No need to yell!" he yelled back, and Macey picked up the pillow beside her and threw it at his head. "Ow!" he protested.

He picked up the body pillow that occupies the end of my bed and started hitting Macey with it.

"Hey get your own!" I yelled, stealing my pillow from Macey. She ducked and ran through the room to her own to get her pillow. Liz and Bex screamed and dashed for theirs, too. The guys quickly ran out and came back in the same time Macey and Liz and Bex broke through into my room. Their first target was..me!

**Sorry for the random POV switch but somedays I write better with a third person POV. Thanks for the reviews guys! they mean a lot~ Read and Review! :) Thanks! **


	12. Chapter 11: Level 1: Completed

**Chapter 11**

**CPOV**

Feathers and pillow stuffing floated through the air and covered the floor; the blankets from my bed were hung up across the room to make a fortress wall; the guys were ducking behind the beds armed with confetti guns (conveniently stashed in the top of my closet for an unknown reason), and Bex, Macey, Liz, and I were poking our heads out around the blanket wall; the lights were off and everyone had war makeup on their cheeks. If someone were to walk in right now, they would think this room belonged to and was inhabited by five year olds, not seventeen year olds.

"Quit being chickens and come out from there!" Grant yelled across the room.

"As you wish!" we all yelled, closer than they expected. We had snuck out behind the blankets and gotten within arms distance from them.

"ATTACK!" everyone yelled simultaneously, and the pillows lost more stuffing as they were launched at each other's heads.

Through heavy laughter, squeals, yells, and the sound of pillows connecting with different surfaces, I heard the door to the room open.

"Hide!" I whisper yelled, and everyone suddenly ducked into the closet, under the bed, behind the blankets and dashed into Macey's room next door, leaving the passageway open just enough to see.

I had jumped into the closet, and so had Zach. The closet was only as big as a small box, so we were squished in tight together.

The intruder turned out to be Solomon leading another man in a suit. That man in the suit was the same man Macey, Bex, Liz, and I had run into in the hall.

"CRAP!" I whispered vehemently, rolling my eyes and leaning back, unintentionally leaning into Zach.

"What has been going on in here?" the man asked, and Zach had to put his hand over my mouth to hold in my giggles.

"Come out guys. I know you're in here," Solomon called.

No one moved. I looked up at Zach, who happened to be looking down at me, and our eyes met. If we weren't hiding in a closet locked in some place it would have been very sweet.

"Macey, Elizabeth, Chase, you are in Macey's room through the wall. Jonas, you are under the bed. Rebecca, Grant, you are hiding behind the pile of blankets over here, and Cameron and Zach, you are in the closet. Come out," he said again.

Slowly, Macey, Liz, and Chase were the first to appear, and then Jonas, Bex, Grant, and finally Zach pushed me out of the closet in front of him.

Solomon looked us all over, and took in the room afterwards, as if in to say, _WHAT IN THE WORLD?_

"I would like for you all to meet Mr. Hawdson, the Director of this base and the smaller CIA/FBI missions," Solomon said, looking from us to the man beside him.

"Hello," we all said politely, standing up straighter.

"Ah, hello. It seems I've already met some of these children in the hallways, Joe," Mr. Hawdson said, staring us down.

"We're sorry about running into you, sir," Bex managed to get out. I tried to keep my face from flushing.

"En Français," he said, switching over himself. I had the strange feeling that this was a test of some sort, a test that we had almost failed upon arrival.

"Nous sommes désolé," Bex corrected herself.

«Bon, alors qu' est-ce qui se passe ici ?» he asked, looking around and then at our faces, which I suddenly realized was covered in war paint.

"Une bataille d'oreillers?" Macey answered, making it sound like a question. Mr. Hawdson shook his head and laughed.

He turned to Solomon and they began speaking Mandarin Chinese in a low whisper, so fast and so low I couldn't make out but two words every minute.

Four minutes and thirty two seconds later, they both turned to us.

"Well, clean up. We have somewhere to be in eight minutes," Solomon said, and we immediately dispersed. The guys left and the girls quickly separated to their rooms. I stood there a second longer, waiting for them to leave. They finally turned around and left, leaving me along in my room.

"Here," Macey said, suddenly appearing through the wall. She handed me an outfit, and I quickly changed without a second thought.

For once Macey hadn't gone overboard. I was wearing well-fitting jeans and a decent looking shirt. I threw my sweatshirt on overtop of it though, destroying whatever look Macey was trying to give me. I walked over to the mirror and viciously scrubbed at my face with some makeup remover and a washcloth. By the time my face was clean, my cheeks were red and numb. I quickly applied a light coat of makeup, put in some earrings, a bracelet, and filled my pockets with my pocket knife, an emergency napotine patch, and my new phone. I slid my feet into my favorite worn pair of New Balance sneakers.

As soon as I finished, everyone walked back into my room. Perfect timing. We quickly folded up the blankets, remade my bed, closed the closet door, and swept the pillow fragments and confetti into a corner. With fifty-seven seconds left, we all emerged through my door into the hallway. We walked up to the door, and once those fifty-seven seconds had passed, the doors automatically opened and we walked through. We had the option of turning right or left, but the left was empty and we had already explored the right, so we turned right.

It was silent as we walked through the hallways; not even our footsteps made a sound. After a few more twists and turns, we were at the door we previously couldn't make it through.

"I got it now," Liz said without hesitation, quickly entering a passcode in all four lock boxes, and the door let out a loud beep before opening. We walked up a flight of stairs and down a few more, snuck through a few locked doors behind others, and rounded a few more corners. We rounded the last corner, and came to a dead end. On the left was a wall, and on the right was a large door guarded by…Solomon and Mr. Hawdson.

"Good job," Solomon said, looking at his watch. It had taken us seven minutes to make it through the whole building without directions to find them.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Training," Mr. Hawdson said.

"Then why aren't we at Gallagher?" Macey shot back.

"This isn't general training."

"Then what is it for?" Grant asked.

"You, my young agents, are going on a mission."

"What?" Liz and Jonas chorused.

"To where?" Bex said.

"The less you know now, the better," Mr. Hawdson responded, and the door opened.

We all walked through onto a small platform. The room had changed since we had last been in there. There was a small platform on either side by a door, the ground was covered in mats and dummies, and the air was laced with red laser motion detectors.

"Whoa," we all breathed.

"This," Solomon said, "is level one."

We all looked at each other, and I saw a familiar light in everyone's eyes. This would be a piece of cake.

"You have to get to level ten before you can leave this facility for the mission," he added, and we all nodded.

"You have twenty minutes. Everyone must make it through; all the dummies must be knocked over. If the lasers are triggered, you have thirty seconds to get off the floor and to the opposite side before they shoot down leaving you with very sore burns."

"Is that it?" Bex asked.

"Yes. Time starts now," he said, and then he and Solomon stepped back and disappeared.

"Let's get this show on the road," Grant said, grabbing the edge of the platform and dropping off down to the floor. Bex quickly followed him.

"Ladies first," Chase said, motion to the edge. Macey dropped down, and then Liz, and then I did. While we waited on the guys to come down, I took the few seconds to observe the pathway there.

"I say just start kicking butt," Bex said, her hands on her hips.

"Ok, sounds good to me," we all said, and we took off running. Zach joined up beside me, and I smiled. I jumped and flipped through the air, nailing a kick to a dummies face so hard it landed flat on its back and 'x's appeared over its eyes. I landed and turned with a roundhouse kick, and with an added punch, it sank to the ground, too. Zach had three laying out within ten seconds. I paused to catch my breath and saw that the others had all the other dummies out. We met up in the middle of the room and sprinted toward the end. The platform was twenty feet up, higher than the one we jumped down from.

"We got to remember next time to leave somebody in the air," I muttered, looking around for something to climb.

"How about a pyramid?" I heard Macey ask Bex, and I rolled my eyes. We didn't have time for a human pyramid. Plus, I didn't think the guys would know how to balance enough to hold us up.

"Zach, give me a boost," I whispered, spotting a little ledge large enough just to grab hold of. A few feet above it was another, and then above that was the railing to the platform. He grabbed the bottom of my foot, and with a little bounce, I was balancing on his shoulders. With a little resituating, he lifted me up higher, and I managed to just catch the edge of the ledge.

"Got it," I said, biting my lip. I pulled myself up and took a deep breath before lifting one arm and quickly reaching for the next edge. My fingers slipped over the edge, but I reached up with the other hand in time to grab it before falling. I pulled my feet up to the one below me and clung to the wall. There was no way everyone would be able to do this. I finished climbing up and over the railing and looked around.

I started fiddling with the bracelet on my wrist and got an idea.

"Macey!" I yelled down.

"Hmm?" she called back.

"You don't happen to have your bracelet on with repelling rope do you?" I asked.

"Yes!" she squealed, pulling it off. With the press of an invisible button (courtesy of Dr. Fibbs), a repel cord shot out and I managed to catch it. I looped it around the rail and tied it.

"Climb!" I shouted down, and they started climbing. I pulled everyone up over the railing, and three minutes later we were outside the training room staring at Mr. Solomon and Mr. Hawdson.

"Good job," they said in unison, and we all highfived.

"Dinner's in the cafeteria, and then just go back to your rooms. We'll start early in the morning tomorrow," Mr. Hawdson said, and they walked away.

"But where.." Macey trailed off as they continued walking.

"Just forget about it Macey. We'll figure it out," I muttered, grabbing Zach's hand and leading the way down the hall. We had no idea where we were going, but it shouldn't be too hard to find it.

The next morning I woke up before anyone else. I slid on a pair of black sweats and rolled them up to right below my knees, a black tank top and a hoodie, and pulled my hair back into a high ponytail. After putting on my old worn sneakers and making my bed, I walked through the girl's rooms to see if they were awake. No one was up.

I walked out into the hallway, and low and behold if Zach didn't appear from his room at the same time. I smiled, held up a finger, and dashed back into my room. I grabbed a pencil and notepad I had found the day before in my desk and wrote a quick note.

_Hey guys, going to get breakfast. See ya whenever you get up. –Cam_

I set it on my bed and dashed back out the door. Zach was waiting patiently on me with a smirk on his face. While walking down the hall to the cafeteria (that it took us twenty minutes to find yesterday), I realized it was really early. We weren't passing anybody.

I checked my internal clock and realized it was 4:49 AM.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, looking at Zach. I swung our hands between us as we walked.

"I couldn't sleep," he said. "What about you? You're usually the last one out of bed," he joked, looking at me and brushing a stray strand of hair out of my eyes.

"I just woke up. I didn't realize it wasn't even five yet," I said.

"Well that's not something I would admit if I were you," he joked, smiling. "But to be honest, I'm not really hungry," he added.

"Me either," I said as we pushed through the double doors into the large high-school like cafeteria. The chefs and cooks here were as nice as they were at home, so I figured since we kept walking anyways we might as well see if we could get some hot chocolate.

"Why, you two are up mighty early," one of the older ladies said, smiling at the sight of us. No one else was in the room yet except a few more cooks back in the kitchen.

"Yes ma'am," we responded, walking up to the window that looked back into the kitchen.

"I bet I know what they would like," one of the other ladies said, and before Zach and I could protest, she was sliding two mugs full of steaming hot chocolate and two small oatmeal raisin cookies towards us.

"Thanks," we said, and we took it back to a table and quickly ate the cookie and finished the cocoa without saying a word. We handed the mugs back to the lady and said thanks again before leaving. Once back in the hallway, we started talking again.

"That was really good," I said, licking the remaining cocoa mustache off my face.

"You missed some," Zach whispered, leaning down and quickly kissing me. I smiled as we continued walking through the halls. By the time we made it back to the rooms, it was six in the morning.

"I'm going to go nap another hour," I said, covering a yawn.

"Good idea, you seem tired," he teased, leaning down and kissing me again. "Be ready for another training session later," he reminded me after pulling away.

"Thanks," I said through another yawn, and I slowly walked away towards my room. I pulled the note off my bed and threw it away before falling down onto of the covers and closing my eyes. All too soon, it seemed, Macey was in my room pecking me in the cheek.

"I know you already went down there once, but the rest of us have got to eat," she was saying.

"Gosh Mace," I moaned, cracking my eyes open slowly so the light wouldn't blind me.

"Why were you up earlier?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Couldn't sleep, nosy," I teased, standing up and stretching.

"Sit," Macey demanded, reaching for my hair. I sighed and sat back down, letting her finger brush my hair and pull it back up. She braided a small French braid along the left side of my head around the back and joined it with a side ponytail on the right.

"Ok, now you are presentable," she muttered, stepping back and looking.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes and stood up again. She rolled hers back, and I smacked the back of her head. I grabbed a few things off my nightstand and slid them into my pockets, the soles of my shoes, and my hairties.

"Can we eat now?" Bex called from the hall, and we walked out to join her, and everyone else, on the way to breakfast.

I joined up with Zach in the back of the group. I laid my head on his shoulder and he grabbed my hand.

"Sleep any Gallagher Girl?" he whispered.

"Yes," I smiled. He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

"We," I started, interrupting myself to roundhouse kick and duck a punch. "Need," I started again before having to jump backwards to avoid a sudden blow and ducking down to knock the feet out from under somebody. "A break!" I blurted out, delivering a blow that knocked the training person to the ground.

I stood there panting a moment before taking a step over to help Liz. Training Session 5 was rounding from level 1 to level 2, so it was a whole lot harder. Instead of dummies we had to fight real people, the lasers moved, the whole set up was different. After four levels nonstop, I needed a breather and a bottle of water. Bad.

Five minutes later, ten CIA agents were giving us handshakes, and the doors at the end of the hall slid open and we ran to get out of there.

"We were convinced by Cameron's broken pleas," Solomon joked, watching us guzzle down water like half starved children.

"Ha, ha," I fake laughed, rolling my eyes and trying to even my breathing.

"We'll try one more, and then we'll be done for the day," Solomon said, and we all stood up and stretched out, trying not to cramp up. "Ready?" he asked, and we all nodded, threw our waters away, and walked to the door. The door opened and I sighed. This looked so easy.

**Sorry its jumpy, and probably a little OOC, I'm working up to something good. Any critiques, requests, comments? All are appreciated! Review please! Thanks.**


	13. Chapter 12: Formal

**Chapter 12**

**CPOV**

I moaned as I laid my head back on Zach's shoulder. It was eleven-twenty-seven, and we were all in Bex's room crashed on pillows and blankets we had carried over for the benefit of the late-night after a long day.

"Today sucked," Bex said, stretching down and grabbing her toes.

"Duh," everyone chorused, and she rolled her eyes.

"One more day though," Grant said, trying to be positive.

"One more day and then we get to go on the real mission," Macey grumbled. She didn't sound thrilled.

"Change of plans!" a familiar voice shouted from outside the door, and we all turned to see our suddenly not-so-favorite teacher standing in the doorway.

"Solomon, have you ever heard of sleep?" Chase said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Pack your bags," Solomon said, ignoring Chase. "We leave at midnight."

"Wait!" Macey demanded before he was out of earshot.

"Miss McHenry," he acknowledged, and Macey rolled her eyes.

"Do we pack everything?" she asked.

"No," he said, and with that short answer, he walked away.

"Well then," I muttered, slowly standing up. "I'll be back," I muttered, walking through everyone to the door. I walked to my room, and about the time I entered the door, I heard everyone else decide to get up, too. I walked to my small closet and pulled out a medium sized black Nike duffle bag.

I pulled clothes ranging from jeans, to short-shorts off hangers and into my bag. I grabbed whatever shirts I could find, a handful of camis, and emptied my top drawer into my bag. After a little shoving, balling, and wrinkling of the clothes, I managed to fit in my pajamas, a couple pair of sweats, a nice dress just in case, and a jacket. I slid a hoodie on over my head, slipped my lucky tennis shoes on, and walked over to my nightstand. I emptied out the drawer of jewelry, gadgets, key chains, and batteries, and I grabbed a pair of flip flops with my toes on the way back over to my bag. I shoved it all in on the top, and forcefully zipped it closed. I slid my technology and chargers in a side pocket, and my bathroom essentials in the other.

I grabbed my phone and slid it in my pocket, threw the bag on my shoulder, grabbed my purse, and walked back into Bex's room.

I grabbed a blanket and my pillow and carried everything to the door. I dropped everything in a neat pile on the floor and sat down beside it. My head was pounding, my body ached, and I was so tired if I closed my eyes I would fall asleep immediately.

I could hear Macey raiding the drawers in her bathroom, Bex rattling clothes in her closet, Liz tripping over her laptop in a backpack. On the other side of the hall, I could see Zach emerging from his room with a leather jacket on and a duffle bag slung on his shoulder. A few seconds later Chase emerged from the bedroom next to his, and then Grant, and then finally Jonas, who had another backpack with him, the home for his laptop. They met me at the door, and a few minutes later the girls walked out, too.

We walked down the hall to the front door of the building, where Solomon was waiting outside with a limo. We all silently threw our bags in the back and climbed in. Solomon said nothing, so after a few minutes, I laid my head on Zach's shoulder and fell asleep.

Everyone stumbled out of the limo with sleepy eyes and dizzy heads. The sky was pitch black above us with not a star or the moon in sight. With my duffle bag and purse in one hand, my pillow and blanket shoved under my arm, and my hand in Zach's, I felt about ready to go anywhere.

"Rooms 1001, 1002, and 1003," I barely heard the receptionist tell Solomon as he checked us in. The hotel we were in was secretly CIA owned, CIA operated, and CIA guarded, so of course, it was five stars. There was a large group of people hovering around the elevator, so we all headed for the stairs.

Even weighed down with bags and pillows, we all beat the elevator to the tenth floor, which happened to be the top floor. There were only four doors on the top floor, and we had three of them.

"Good to see you guys," someone said, stepping out from the fourth room in an elegant black dress and stilettos .

"Mom!" I sang, dropping my stuff and running to her.

"Hey baby," she said, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "You have a meeting with some very important people in an hour. Get dressed," she said, handing me an envelope. I took it and said a quick goodbye before she disappeared back inside her room. Solomon handed me a room key, Zach a room key, and then disappeared inside the room of his own.

"I don't have anything formal to wear," Liz said, breaking the silence.

"We'll find something Liz," Macey said, smiling evilly. We broke away from the guys and walked into our room. With only minor observation, we dashed to the bedroom that had two sets of bunk beds in it and shared a wall with the large bathroom.

"Give me your clothes," Macey said, unzipping all four bags at once and searching through them. "Liz you're first, hit the shower," she added, pulling out two dresses and two skirts from her bag, the dress I had stuffed last minute from mine, and two from Bex's.

While she was doing that, Bex was raiding everyone's stuff for makeup and hair supplies, and I opened the folder and started reading.

_Cameron Anne Morgan:_

_**Audrey Marie Breedcomb**_

_**Deep red, auburn hair; blue/green eyes**_

There was more, but it was just about my past background, my plans for the future, why I was there, and what my personality was like. For the most part, they kept it pretty simple.

"WE HAVE TO DYE OUR HAIR?" Macey screeched, reading over my shoulder. Suddenly, the phone I had received at the training center went off in my pocket, and I pulled it out and read the new message from the unknown number.

_Hair dye and contacts are under the sink. It's temporary.-S_

I ignored her and continued reading through everyone's names.

_Elizabeth Laci Sutton_

_**Lauren Allyson Flemons**_

_**Pale blond hair; dark blue eyes**_

_Macey Katherine McHenry_

_**Taylor Logan Whitt**_

_**Strawberry-blond hair; brown eyes**_

_Rebecca Lynn Baxter_

_**Lillian Heather Alls**_

_**Black hair; green eyes**_

"Got it?" I asked after everyone, including Liz, who had come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, had read it over.

"Yeah," they all said, and Macey got up to go find the hair dye. I ran out of the room and slid the envelope under the door for the guys. We had read over their new covers, too, and I figured they might need them to get ready.

_Zachary Martin Goode_

_**Andrew Lambert Smith**_

_**Blond hair; muddy brown eyes**_

_Grant James Newman_

_**John Jacob Hines**_

_**Red hair; blue eyes**_

_Jonas Levi Anderson_

_**Matthew Wiley Court**_

_**Black hair; blue eyes**_

_Chase Shane Meadows_

_**Ryan Beck Woods**_

_**Brown/blond hair; green eyes**_

"Shower! Now," Macey demanded, shoving me in the bathroom while looking at her watch. I took a two minute shower, wrapped in a towel, and stepped out of the bathroom only to be shoved back in a chair with my head in the sink while Bex showered. Macey's hands were in gloves and the bottle of dye was starting to scare me. It was really _really_ red.

"Ok, Macey, this is not going to work for me!" Liz said, walking in the already crowded extra-large bathroom. She was wearing a pale blue dress that had spaghetti straps and met at her knees. Her hair was already pale blonde, curled, and her makeup was flawless.

"Why not?" Macey asked, starting to place a hand on her hip, but stopping midway and turning back to my hair.

"Because, I don't know, but it just isn't!" she said, adding in a slight southern accent.

"Lauren! I swear! Suck it up buttercup!" Macey said, rinsing my hair out one last time before drying it and putting long spiral curls through it.

"Second outfit," she said, shoving me out of the chair and Bex into it. She took off her gloves and started curling Bex's hair, since she had the privilege of leaving it the same color. I looked at my outfit and smiled. It was pretty simple, especially for a formal meeting.

The dress was Maceys, just like Liz's. It was white, had thin spaghetti straps and met at mid-thigh. The top had a band at my chest, and the rest flared out just a little. I slid it on and spun around once, watching it flare out more. I slid on a pair of spandex underneath, just because you never know when you're going to have to be climbing a rope or jumping a laser. The dress was paired with a pair of white gladiator sandals.

Bex came out a few seconds later and grabbed the third outfit. This one was actually hers; it was a pink, black, and white strapless dress that was about the same length as Liz's. Her hair was half up, half down, and her shoes were white and black flats.

Macey appeared last with strawberry blonde dyed hair wearing a purple and black dress. The dress hung off one shoulder and barely reached mid-thigh. Her hair, although the color did not match her, was up in a bun with curled pieces hanging down since we had run out of time. Even spies could only dye and curl hair so fast. She slid her feet into a pair of flats, handed us contacts and purses, and closed the bathroom door. We quickly changed into our covers and walked confidently out of the room, the door locking behind us.

"Are you guys ready?" we called, knocking on the guys' door.

"You, my dear Taylor, are very impatient," Chase-er, I mean Ryan said, opening the door and stepping outside. He was wearing a tux. They must have provided them with something to wear because I seriously doubt they carried tuxedos with them wherever they went.

"Move dude," all the guys called, shoving Ryan out of the way as they opened the door. Out came the guys, looking completely different with their new hair and eyes colors. Zach-I mean Andrew looked so different with blond hair and brown eyes. I officially hated his cover. He seemed to think the same, looking over my red hair and darkened eyes with a frown.

"Let's go! We have places to be and people to see!" my mom said, waltzing past us with Solomon on her arm in a tux. We quickly started to follow them, down all ten flights of stairs and out the front door without a word.

"Ok, listen, don't speak," my mom started giving out instructions as we neared a restaurant.

"You are the children of our whole family, so you are all related. I don't care how, figure it out amongst yourselves," Solomon added.

"Oh! Don't act surprised no matter what these guys say," my mom blurted. "Whatever it is, you do it all the time and hear it all the time, and it's part of your life. Got it?" she finished, turning to face us.

We all nodded. Of all the CoveOps we had had, keeping under cover seemed to be the easiest at the moment.

Before entering the restaurant, Mom and Solomon went to go check us in, so we figured out who was who.

"John and I are brother and sister. John's older by a year," Bex-Lillian stated.

"Ok, so Ryan and I will be the son and daughter, you guys are our cousins," Macey-Taylor started. "We'll be siblings, and Ryan can be younger, for a mix up," she said, smiling at him.

"Ok, then Audrey and I will be brother and sister," Andrew said, and I smiled.

"I'm older," I beat him to the punch, laughing slightly.

"That leaves Matthew and I. We'll be cousins of each other, second cousins of all of you," Lauren said, switching things up. We all nodded. That made: Andrew my brother, Ryan my cousin, John my cousin, and Matthew my second cousin. Lillian, Taylor, and Lauren were all my cousins, too. This was one big family.

"The table is ready. They're already here," my mother said, adding a very slight accent.

"Yes ma'am," we all said, walking in together. The couples dropped hands and we remembered to look like this was a usual thing for us as we walked in. In the far back corner of the restaurant was a large table filled with four men, Solomon, and had five empty seats left. My mom took one, and then the guys made the girls take the others, while they stood behind the seats with their hands on the backrest.

"Hello," one of the men said menacingly, and we all nodded. This was a rough crew. Two of the others lit up cigars, and it took every ounce of skill in my body not to cough.

"All of these are your family?" the fourth guy asked, narrowing his eyes and analyzing all of us. These guys were wearing tuxes, but they weren't very clean shaven, they were smoking, and you could tell they were down to no good.

"They're all nieces and nephews, except for ours of course," my mom said, her fake accent still barely noticeable.

"They've all done this thing before?" the first one asked.

"Yes, of course, plenty of times," Solomon answered.

"Which one of you has the most experience?" the third one asked, turning to us. We sat silent for a second, and then we all turned and looked at Zach. He was best at keeping cover.

"I do, sir," he said, squaring his shoulders just a little more while barely hiding a smirk.

"What's your name son?" man number one and man number two said at the same time.

"Andrew," he answered, staring back with the same intentness they were staring at him with.

"Well then, let's get back to these plans," the fourth man said, so everyone looked at the blueprints on the table. The blueprints were the layout of the local bank, which also happened to be one of the biggest banks east of the Mississippi.

"We'll hack the security cameras and locks before entering at 300. Two will stay behind to keep lookout at the main door. Two will infiltrate the security room as soon as possible to get the camera's view from inside. Then, the rest of us will enter in many ways. Two will drop directly into the left wing room, pick the locks, and steal as many identities as possible while two others will do the same on the right wing. Two more will unlock the safe and steal as much money as they can carry. Two more will scout the building before we enter and make sure everything is back in place when we leave. The last two will hold out the security until everyone, including those in the camera room, have made it safely out. Now, who wants what jobs?"

It was silent a moment before my mom and Solomon started talking about which would be best for who. My mind was reeling. We were helping these guys rob a bank? No, we were probably stopping them.

"Lauren and Matthew will take hacking the security," Solomon said, marking their names off the list of people.

"Two of us have got the last job," one of the men said, marking off two more names I couldn't see.

"The other two of us have got the lookout," the third man added, and man number four marked off two more names.

"Andrew and Audrey can take the scouting," my mom said, looking at us.

"That leaves you two, and those four," guy number one said, pointing his pencil.

"Lillian and John can take the left wing, and we'll take the right wing," my mom said, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

"That leaves Taylor and Ryan to crack the safe," Solomon said, sounding slightly doubtful.

"Can you crack a safe?" guy number three asked, turning to Taylor and Ryan.

"Yes sir," Ryan said, nodding his head. I was impressed at the guy's smoothness around these men.

"Alright, well that's it then. We'll see ya'll at the parking lot across the street an hour beforehand." With that lovely message, all four of them got up and left. Solomon reached in his pocket and pulled out two hundred dollar bills, left them on the table, and left behind them. My mom slowly stood up and herded us all out in front of her. No one said a word until we go back to the hotel.

**Reviews please!**


	14. Chapter 13: Thief Class ONe

**Chapter 13**

**ZPOV  
**

"Mom, explain this to me again," Cam said slowly, pushing her bright red curls back out of her face and running her hands down her dress to calm her nerves.

"Cam, honey, I've explained it three times now," her mother said, and I hid a laugh behind a smirk.

"Ok, ok," she gave in, playing with her thumbs to hide her shaking hands.

"So that's it?" Macey asked. "Were just going to aid the biggest criminals in the world in the robbing of a United States bank?"

"Well, no, of course not," Cam's mom said, feigning shock.

"Then what _are_ we going to do?" Chase asked, leaning forward from his seat on the couch with his elbows on his knees.

"Thank you!" Cam muttered in a barely audible voice; the only reason I could hear her was because she was standing right next to me. I leaned back against the wall, silently observing everything.

"Well, your night is not over," Solomon said, and we all groaned. We had spent the last night in a limo, and now we had to pretend to be family thieves _and _something else? I would rather be at Gallagher taking classes.

"It's not?" Bex asked, looking up.

"No. You have another cover to fulfill."

"Two covers? Seriously?" Grant said, and I laid my head back, staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah. Basically you are robbing a street and making the guys we talked to tonight think they have company. That way, the night of the bank robbery, we can get in first, and then they won't find anything when they get in. They'll think it was their thieving friends, and the police can catch them. Well, we can catch them," Solomon said.

"This should be interesting," Macey said, standing up.

"Here," Mr. Morgan handed each of us an envelope. "There are eight stores on this street. They each have specific security systems. I don't care how many of you work on one building at a time, but I suggest you don't overload your hackers, and you don't all go in together," she added.

Everyone nodded, and we all left. I trailed behind, trying to figure out how to best work this.

"I'm changing first!" Liz and Cam yelled as they raced to their room. I realized we all should probably change. It would be hard to rob a bank in a tux.

**CPOV**

I quickly traded my dress for a black cami and hoodie, black soffees over spandex, black ankle socks, and my classic black and dark purple tennis shoes. I ran a brush through my hair, destroying the curls and hairspray, before pulling on a black toboggan and hiding my hair altogether. I took out the annoying contacts and grabbed a small black empty backpack before walking out to the living room area, furnished with a couch, two chairs, a rug, two coffee tables, and a flat screen TV.

I was the first out there, so I sat on one of the chairs and pulled my knees up. I slowly opened the envelope and pulled the file out. This file was much like the one before, except instead of names, we had codenames for the Comms, and instead of personalities and looks, we had a list of stores and their addresses.

"Let me start in already," Liz said, joining me in the empty room and taking the file out of my hands. She sat in the other chair with her laptop on her lap and started typing.

"Oh, before I get distracted," she said, sitting up. She pulled eight Comms units out of her pocket and set them on the little coffee table. "There already programmed," she said, slipping one in her ear. I grabbed one up and attached it, too.

"Let's get this party started!" Grant yelled, barging in through our door that we had left cracked open so they could get in.

"Ok, let's do this," Macey said, walking out of the bedroom with Bex behind her. Everyone was wearing straight black and grey. Everyone grabbed a Comms off the table, Liz stuck her laptop in the backpack I had brought out, we all grabbed another black drawstring bag each, and we stepped into the hallway.

"Wait!" I said, putting a finger to my lips. Everyone turned and looked at me, and I felt my cheeks turn a shade darker with the stares. "We can't just walk out the front door looking like a gang of burglars," I said, and everyone started nodding and saying their 'ohs,' and 'duhs'.

"Back window drops down to the reserved parking only parking lot. Take the second van on the left," Solomon appeared behind us, throwing some keys.

Not knowing who was going to grab them, I reached out the same time Zach did, and our fingers collided and the keys whizzed by our hands. I stuck my foot out and tossed them back into the air off my toes and caught them with my other hand.

Solomon raised an eyebrow before walking down the hall and taking the elevator. Once he was out of sight, I felt my cheeks turn yet another shade darker as Zach reached over and took the keys from me.

We got to the car while there was still daylight, but by the time we had made it to the street and found what stores we were robbing and where we could park, it was dark and they had all been closed for over two hours.

Zach parked the van in a little alcove made by the back of a rundown apartment building and a dumpster. We waited another hour for the streets to clear before opening the doors and crawling out.

The plan was for Jonas to be hacking store number one: _Greg's Fresh Market_ while Bex, Grant, and Chase made their way to it. By the time they got there, they would have the clear to get in and get out. While that was going on, Liz was hacking the security for store number two: _Kelley's Pharmacy,_ while Zach, Macey, and I did the same. After finishing with each store, we would switch teams up a little for safety and other reasons.

With only one store to go, everything had gone perfectly so far. We were back to our original teams, but Bex, Grant, and Chase were going to hang back and watch, for backup.

"Chameleon, Magazine eight is ready for preparation," Liz said.

"Printing is underway," I whispered back, crouching behind a bush on the property of our last store. I peeked over the edge, and I could see the lights glowing faintly from inside, lighting up the aisles of supplies and stands of goods.

I crept forward silently after making sure no one was around, and picked the lock on the door. Within a minute I was inside, quickly joined by Zach and Macey. Using our fingerless gloves, we were careful to only touch things we were taking.

We were finishing up filling the bags when we heard voices outside.

"Bookworm?" I asked, sinking back into the shadows.

"Hide!" she squealed quietly into the comms, and Macey, Zach, and I made a mad dash for the tiny bathroom in the back. We locked the door behind us, and taking a moment to quiet our frantic breathing, we could hear people inside the store!

"I can't believe you forgot the keys again!" one person was saying. We could hear the sounds of drawers opening and banging closed and hinges squeaking. The keys they were looking for were in the top left hand drawer; I had just found them moments before.

"Got 'em," a second person said, and the drawers closed and keys rang.

"Hold on. Before we leave, I have to go to the bathroom," the first person said, and I took a deep steadying breath.

"Window, now," Zach breathed, and Macey, the closet, scrambled to the window. She quickly unlocked it and boosted herself through the hole it had created. Zach made me go in front of him, and I boosted myself up and swung my legs around through the hole. I turned and dropped myself through before landing on asphalt with a grunt. To be a one story building, the window was higher than I expected.

I stood up and moved, just in time for Zach to drop down and lower the window. We ducked and ran back around the corner, making a mad dash for the bushes. Once there, we ran in a crouch to the place where the other group was waiting for us.

"Team is out," I muttered, breathing hard.

"Let's go!" Liz said urgently, and we all ran to the van.

"Ow," I let loose a little whistle through my teeth as I took my seat in the van.

"What?" everyone turned to me, and I shrugged.

"I'll figure it out at the hotel. Let's go," I said, and everyone reluctantly turned back to whatever they were doing.

"Liz, how'd they almost get in without a warning?" Macey asked, her face still red from nervousness.

"They didn't show up on the radar until they were at the door," Liz said, typing away still on her computer.

"How?" I asked, leaning forward to see her screen.

"I don't know!" she said, typing faster.

Twenty minutes later we pulled back into the hotel. After a long debate, we locked the van behind us and walked in the building using a side entrance. We took the stairs two at a time all the way to the top. Once on our floor we relaxed, and knocked on my mom's door.

"Come in," my mom said, and we walked in.

"Good, you're back," she said with a smile. We dropped all the stolen belongings on the couch with hardly a word before turning to leave again. She didn't stop us to ask how it had went, or how we felt, or what we were doing tomorrow; she just let us leave.

When I was about to walk out the door, she called out. "Cam, I think you're bleeding," she said, and I turned and didn't see anything.

"What?" I asked, stopping.

"You are bleeding from a cut on your leg I think," she said again, and I just nodded and left.

We walked to our room and everyone crashed the couches. I walked back into our room and into the bathroom. If my mom saw blood through my black spandex, there probably was blood. I got out the alcohol and a couple bandaids and stripped down to my spandex. I pulled the legs up and stared at the gash on the backside of my leg for a moment. Blood had soaked the whole left leg of my spandex, and I traded them for another shorter pair. I slid my soffees back on over it and then coated a cotton ball in alcohol. I wiped off all the blood and cleaned the cut before putting a bandaid over the worst of it and looking at the scab that was already forming. Around it, my skin was purple, and I grimaced.

I walked back out a few minutes later and rejoined everyone on the couches and chairs around the TV. Although it was probably past two in the morning, we were all pretty wide awake.


	15. Chapter 14: Fake Break

A really long one, just for my reviewers! :)

**Chapter 14**

**POV**

"Breaking news! Breaking news! Breaking news!" the TV was screeching through the room even though there was no one there to hear it. The eight teenagers were strewn out about the floor and furniture, much like clothes in one's room, asleep. The clock on the wall above the TV read: 12:01, and as the grandfather clock in the corner finished it's chimes, it left the room in an odd silence that even the midday news reporter couldn't seem to break.

Outside the window the sun was shining from behind a few grey clouds, and the street, parking lot, trees, and cars in view were coated in a fresh layer of light rain. As the news reporter finally moved on to the details of the breaking news, one of the teenagers rolled over, and onto the floor she fell.

After a few seconds of catching her breath and grumbling about the bruises she was sure to have within the next hour, she rolled over onto her back and closed her pale blue eyes again.

All around her the others were beginning to stir, and once the movement and sound began, the girl could not go back to sleep. So instead, she stood up, stretched, and went to take her place as first in the shower.

After a hot shower, fresh jeans, and freshly combed hair, she felt like a new person. She left her hair down and put on the slightest bit of makeup before Cammie Morgan walked back into the living room. The guys had disappeared, and Macey, Bex, and Liz passed her on her way out, so she had the living room to herself.

Seeing the computer in front of her, she got on and checked her email that Liz had made them. She really didn't expect anything to be in her inbox, but to her surprise, there were three messages.

**CAMSPOV**

**1 Shadow Subject: Today**

**1 Shadow Subject: Roof**

**1 Jade Subject: None**

After a quick freeze from the new sender, I decided to open it first. I realized after reading the first two words it was my mother.

**Cam,**

**Honey, I hope you guys do realize that I will have to shut this chat room down. I'll give it until after were done with this mission. Sorry.**

I rolled my eyes and click delete. I'd tell the other's later. It wasn't hard for Liz and Jonas to make a better one anyways. I clicked the next one.

**Subject: Today**

**Hey Gallagher Girl. Today, we are free of plans. **

I rolled my eyes again and mumbled under my breath. I already knew that, thanks Zach. I sighed and clicked the last one.

**Subject: Roof**

**Gallagher Girl. Meet me on the roof? **

**-Shadow**

I looked at the time sent, and smiled. He had just sent it five minutes ago. I ran into our bedroom and grabbed a headband off the nightstand. I saw the outfits Macey had picked out for us to where to tonight while robbing the bank, and I rolled my eyes. Typical Macey. Always ten hours ahead.

"I'll be back later!" I yelled toward the crowded bathroom, and without waiting for a reply I ran out and dashed into the hall. I skidded to a stop as a figure appeared in front of me, and I gasped as I stopped just mere centimeters from them. I took a deep breath and stepped back twice.

"Morn..Evening Mr. Solomon," I said, correcting myself halfway through as I realized how long we had been sleeping.

"Cameron," he said, nodding with raised eyebrows. I watched as he walked past and into my mom's room. As soon as the door closed I dashed down the hall and out the side door at the end. I took the stairs three at a time. At the top, I slowed, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door.

My teeth automatically started to chatter as the wind blew, and I clenched my jaw tighter to avoid the noise. I walked out to the edge, where Zach was standing. He didn't even turn to look.

"Gallagher Girl," he said, and I smiled.

"Blackthorne Boy," I said, and he smirked.

"You're cold," he said, turning to face me. He took a step back from the edge of the roof where cars were buzzing down the road at 40 miles per hour thousands of feet below us. I followed, and once we were safely away from the edge, he pulled off his jacket and helped me in it. I pulled it up closer around my shoulders and took a deep, secretive, breath.

His jacket was the best smelling thing on this planet. It made my head spin.

Zach pulled me close and wrapped his arm around my waist. I laid my head on his shoulder and we watched the clouds change from white to grey over the next five minutes.

"It's going to rain," he said, and I looked up at him and rolled my eyes.

"I thought it was going to erupt lava all over our heads," I said sarcastically.

"If we were somewhere near a volcano, that could happen, too," he said, raising an eyebrow like he was considering it.

"Zach," I laughed, shaking my head. "No. Just..no," I said.

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

As laughter continued to escape my lips, the rain began to fall. I squealed and Zach smirked and drug me towards the door. We quickly ran back to the hallway, my hair ringing wet from the sudden downpour and his white Tshirt sticking to his abs.

"See you in a bit," he said, kissing my cheek as he turned to walk to his room. I smiled, turned, and entered the room of my own.

"Cam!" Macey screeched, rushing over and dragging me into the bedroom. Less than a half hour had passed, but it seemed everyone was already getting ready.

"Put this on," Macey said, throwing clothes at me. I caught them and quickly changed into black sweats that met mid-calf, softball socks, my lucky tennis-shoes, and a black short sleeve plain tee with a black hoodie on over that. I slid let my quick nimble fingers create two full length French braids down my back with my hair and then turned to Macey. She attacked my face with makeup at once, making me look like a completely different person. The finishing touches were some black war paint under my eyes as a joke.

Bex and Liz emerged from the kitchen back into the bedroom wearing very similar clothes. We all geared up with different items each. We each took a repelling cord and secured it to our belts built into our sweats and hooked it on a hidden loop. Then, I put silent explosive earrings in, a knife and my phone in my left pocket and a pair of night vision sunglasses in my right. I put a comms unit in my ear, a video camera headband on, and slid a backpack onto my back.

After the others had loaded up, we walked through the hallway into the guy's room.

"Hey," we all said, walking in the cracked open door. They were lounged out across the living room area, all dressed in black athletic shorts, black ankle socks, black tennis shoes, and black muscle tees that stuck to their abs like duct-tape on hair. Only, more flattering and less painful.

"Hey girls," they all said, each scooting over a little allowing everyone a place to sit. I curled up on the other end of the small couch Zach was sitting in, tucked my toes under the arm, and leaned into him, my head on his shoulder. Bex did the same with Grant on the opposite couch, Liz sat on Jonas's lap in the chair, and Macey was squished in beside Chase in one of the chairs, her head on his shoulder and her feet curled up to the side.

"Ready to rob a bank?" Chase joked.

"It feels so wrong," Macey said, fake-shuddering.

"It's not for real. We're actually protecting the money," Liz said.

"I know, but still."

"We're _robbing_ a bank," I said, chewing on my bottom lip. "It's a serious matter," I added.

"We'll be fine," Grant said, rolling his eyes.

"Just don't set off any alarms," Zach joked, and I tilted my head back to see him. His emerald green eyes casted down to meet mine, and I frowned while he smirked.

The conversation continued, changing from everything from frogs to CoveOps class. As the hours dwindled away and the sun finally started to set, everyone stood and stretched. After loosening up, we walked down the hall to find Mr. Solomon and Mrs. Morgan. We weren't surprised to find them waiting on us at the door to their rooms.

"Ready?" they both asked. We just nodded.

As we drove down the road in the back of a mini-van, my hands started shaking. The reality of this situation my heart beat faster, the blood rush through my ears, and my body shake. I got the chills, and I shivered once as a cold burst overtook my body.

"You Ok?" Zach whispered so low no one could hear it but me. I nodded, took a deep steadying breath, and leaned back into him.

Not only were we about to rob this bank once, we were about to rob it twice. This should be interesting. The closer we got, the more my teeth wanted to chatter and my body freak out. Zach finally took my hands between his to stop the shaking and slid a jacket over my shoulders to stop the sudden chill, but my nervousness wouldn't leave.

As we pulled into our hiding place and Jonas and Liz got out their laptops, I realized we were about to do this for real. Only this time, I was safe. The second time, I would be surrounded by deadly criminals who thought I was one of them.

Mr. Solomon herded the rest of us out of the vehicle and down the street behind my mother. We jumped a fence, and in front of us lied the bank-the building of our mission. Without a second's hesitation, my mom went to the door and tried to pick the lock. For a second, a loud siren swooped, but just as quickly it was gone.

"We're going to need some warning for that," Jonas said through the Comms, and I looked around for an alternate entrance.

"Skylights," I whispered, remembering the criminals at dinner saying something about repelling. In order to repel, there would have to be some opening on the roof.

Zach and I looked at each other, then took a quick glance at the back wall. There was a molding around the door just wide enough for a good grip, and above that was a molding that wrapped around the building, a window, and then the gutter, making swinging to the roof an easy accessibility.

Without waiting, I took a step towards Zach, who immediately boosted me up to above the door. With my feet planted firmly on the molding around the door, I reached for the molding above me. It was just out of reach. Sighing, I slid my fingers along the wall, looking for any groove in the brick where I could hold on to to get higher.

Finding nothing, I looked down at them to see if they had any suggestions.

"Stand still and don't fall," I heard Macey say, and suddenly, she was propelled up next to me. I managed to keep my balance as she used me as the next step up to the molding. From there, her feet rested on my shoulders until she scrambled up the window. Once at the windowsill, she made a jump for the gutter, made a little leap of faith, and let her fingers grab hold of the edge of the roof. Finally, after a moment of struggling, she pulled herself up and over.

The next thing I knew, Macey was throwing down a repelling rope, and I easily shimmied up it to the top. At the top, soon Zach, Chase, and my mom joined us. Bex and Grant stayed on the ground with Mr. Solomon to break in from the front.

On the roof, there were three windows: one on each side and one in the middle. The safe was in the middle, so Macey and Chase started working on that lock with Liz. My mom took the right, so Zach and I took the left. Jonas had quickly unlocked them, and so Zach and I were pulling up on the window with all our strength to get it to budge open.

Finally, after a few disastrous tries, the window creaked, groaned, and then flew open, sending Zach and I flying backwards. I hit the ground and skidded across the concrete roof, dizzy. After a second, I stood up and went to look down through the window.

Suddenly, red lasers appeared, and as Zach helped me hook up my repelling harness, I knew this was going to be complicated.

"Three, two, one," Zach said, gently lowering me a few feet into the building. The red lights were crossed at three foot intervals, but I had managed to find a hole, that if we dropped perfectly, wouldn't touch any of them.

"Whoa!" I whispered loudly, pulling my feet up to my chest, and giving myself a serious ab workout in the process. My tennis-shoed feet had come dangerously close to the first laser.

"Sorry, my B," Zach said from above me, and I looked up and nodded. He smirked. Slowly, slowly, he lowered me further and further down into the building. The lasers around me flickered as if in warning, and I could hear Liz and Jonas giving distinct directions to many people at once about how to turn the security off.

With only ten feet to go, I held up my hand so Zach would stop. Below me the grid had changed. The floor tiles were rigged with blue lasers that matched the tiles exactly and pressure sensors. These things were unnoticeable from above. I looked around, suddenly curious about why a bank would have such precious measures, but found no clues.

"What's up Chameleon?" Zach whispered from above me, and I looked around while answering.

"The floors rigged with a different grid and pressure sensors," I said, trying to find the camera that was hidden in this room. Aha! One of the overhead lights, although all were off, was just a tad brighter, and inside the left hand corner rested the dark shape of a camera. I waved briefly, and then Liz's voice appeared in my ear.

"What's up Chameleon?" she asked, sounding weary and distracted.

"Can you get rid of the grid on the floor?" I asked, analyzing the tiles for some indication of where the pressure sensors were.

"I already tried..oh wait. You said floor? Hold on," she said, and I could hear her mad typing through the comms.

A few moments later, there was a half second of a siren, and then it went away.

"Bookworm?" I asked, looking up at Zach with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged.

"They've got some serious firewalls on here," she muttered, and I sighed.

"We're running out of time," Solomon said over the comms, and I heard everyone moan. Macey and Chase had just made it into the hall and down to the safe door, Bex and Grant were keeping guard around the whole building, but somehow Mom and Solomon managed to be done with whatever they were doing.

"I got the grid, Chameleon, but the pressure sensors are another story," she said.

"We've got that covered," Zach said from above me, and I looked up to see him sliding down my repelling cord. As he reached a point a foot from my head, he looked around. By getting rid of the floor grid, Liz had also diminished the red lasers that crossed the room, so we had free ground except for, the well, ground.

I quickly unlatched my harness and held myself up along the cord.

"Swing," Zach muttered, and I laughed. We started leaning from the left to the right until the cord was flying across the room. I jumped at the top of the left swing, and Zach jumped from the right. We landed on tables, and after a moment's hesitation, I jammed a bobby pin in a file cabinet and started jimmying the lock.

Seconds later my backpack was full of people's IDs, credit card information, and tons more. As I emptied the last drawer into the third backpack, I noticed the name at the top.

Well, I figured out why security was so thick. This guy had to be paying for it. And that explained why we were doing this, too. I stuffed the last file into the last available space in the backpack and looked at Zach.

The rope was hanging in the middle, unmoving.

Zach and I looked at each other at the same time, and I knew we had the same idea. Looking around, I saw an old computer looming in the back of the room. I ran, across tables, file cabinets, and shelves, to it and picked up the keyboard. After a second of analyzing and positioning, the keyboard was flying across the room like a Frisbee, catching the rope on the way to Zach.

Zach tied his three backpacks to the end and watched as it disappeared through the window. Chase, who had left Macey to do her job, was pulling our line back up to help us and to hurry us along.

"Let's go guys," my mom said from above us, and I looked up to see her face through the window. "Chase, go get Macey," she said, and he turned and went, leaving the rope in my mom's capable hands.

After relowering, refrisbee-ating, and catching the rope again, all the files were up, only Zach and I were not. Mom lowered the rope again, this time swinging it back and forth so that one of us could catch it. Zach managed to grab it, and he ran along the edge of the room along furniture to get to me. We both got good grips on the rope, and then we were suspended in air for about thirty seconds until my mom managed to pull us up.

"Let's go guys," she said, already dropping the files down to Bex and Grant who were giving them to Solomon who was stashing them away in a different van than the one we were driving in. Macey and Chase were still having difficulties, so, ignoring Mom's orders, I dropped down through the window, twisted around, and dropped from the ceiling to the floor, a thirty foot drop, and rolled. Right into Macey's feet.

A small squeal escaped her lips before she noticed it was just me, coming to help.

"Bookworm, this isn't working!" Macey said, slamming her fist against the safe.

"I'm sorry!" Liz said, and suddenly our comms crackled out, and I sighed.

"Just crack it Mace," I said, standing up and brushing floor dust off of me.

"I can't Cam! I've been trying!" she said, running a distressed hand through her hair.

"Macey calm down. We still have time," Chase said, grabbing her other hand and rubbing small circles on it with his thumb.

"No, we," she started.

"Macey McHenry, my mother and Solomon did not tell those thugs you could hack a safe if they didn't believe you can," I interrupted.

"Yeah, but," she started.

"They've never been wrong before, so don't make them start now!" I said.

"Right, Ok. I've got this," she said, turning to face the safe once again.

With barely a second's hesitation, she dropped Chase's hand, placed one on the safe dial and one against the door. The safe made a barely audible click, and Macey McHenry had just broke open a safe in class record time-15.67 seconds.

"Yes!" she whispered to herself before delivering high-fives to me and Chase.

"We need to be leaving!" my mom whisper-yelled from above us, and suddenly we all rushed to stash away what little we could and hide the rest under and in every little nook and crevice we could find.

We ran back out, shut the safe, and shimmied up the rope that was dropped to us. Once on top, we closed the window and ran to the edge of the building where Zach was waiting on us. Zach took my hand briefly before we turned and scaled down the edge of the building. Macey and Chase were right above us, and my mom was coming up last.

"We have less than ten minutes to meet up with them. Move!" Solomon ordered, and once our feet were flat on the pavement they were sprinting to the van. Once inside, I pulled my bright red hair back into a better ponytail since the one it was previously in was falling down.

The closer we came to meeting up with those guys, the more my feet tapped on the floor, my fingers tapped on my legs, and my knee bounced up and down. Finally, Zach just reached over and grabbed my hands, stopping every nervous jitter I had.

And then we pulled into the parking lot, and there they were. Waiting. It was time to rob a bank; again.


	16. Chapter 15: Damage Control

**Chapter 15**

The four guys, dressed completely in black, were waiting on us when we arrived. Covers, taken hold of in the car, were executed, and it took every stray fragment of memory to remember not to grab Zach's hand. it was a silent arrival, and once we were all gathered around again, they motioned to the blue prints, and everyone nodded.

No one uttered a word as we all ran the mile to the bank. From the thin layer of trees along the back parking lot, we stopped and stared. There was no evidence leading to someone thinking we had been here before, but as we started at the triple locked doors and high windows, I knew we were going to have to scale the wall again.

"Start hacking," they barked rudely, and Liz and Jonas made a place under the trees where they set up a combination of laptops and other technological devices. While they were busy getting into programs they had already figured out the passwords for, all of the thugs took me and Zach up to the front door, and Mr. Solomon and Mom took the others to the roof again.

From the front, the bank wasn't so intimidating to try to get into. Zach and I quickly jimmied the lock after hearing the go ahead from Liz. The first lock unlocked, mixed with downed security and no alarms in under five minutes of arrival was pretty good for us.

After cracking open three more locks, the front door opened inward, and we stepped inside.

"You're the scouts," they said, shoving Zach and I forward. Shooting a quick glare behind me, we walked slow, studious, laps around the building before coming back and reporting things were good.

"Ten minutes," two of them said, turning to guard the door. The other two, after shooting us quick glances, walked down to find the security room where cameras were likely to be so they could watch us at work. Watch us uncover the empty rooms.

Zach and I walked down the hall. We poked our heads in on Grant and Bex to see them having the same troubles we were. Liz still hadn't beat that code yet.

I made little rocking motions with my fingers at my side, and Bex caught on with only a seconds glance. Soon, they were swinging to their empty cabinets.

As we rounded the corner, Macey and Chase were once again having trouble breaking into the safe. I shot Macey a look on my way around, and she rolled her eyes. Zach and I continued our scout rounds and we passed my mom and Solomon, already sliding closed the empty filing cabinets and heading back to the roof. As we made it back around, I could tell everyone had reported the empty cases.

"Let's go," the guards practically growled, and I made sure to keep my distance from them as we slipped out of the building behind the two that had been in the security room. As we quickly rejoined Liz and Jonas under the trees, and my mom, Solomon, Bex, Grant, Macey, and Chase all made their way over, the four thugs made a brief grunt before turning and running back the way they had come.

"Let's take our time," Solomon said, and we all agreed. So, leaving the robbery behind us, we peeled off a few layers of black, revealing blue, green, purple, red, orange, and pink clothes. We spread out some to look less conspicuous, and the couples reappeared as we grabbed hands and rested heads on shoulders.

My stomach, that was sadly underfed between sleep and nervousness the past few days, growled loudly, and I moved my free hand to cover it with a small giggle as we walked. Zach shot me a sideways glance and smirk, and my giggles turned into a flat out laugh.

"Cam, now is not the time for your random laughing fits!" Bex called from in front of us without turning around.

"Shutup!" I joked back, and Zach let out a little laugh. Macey, behind me, and Liz, beside Bex, rolled their eyes.

"Guys, move!" I heard my mom yell from behind us, and I turned around the same time everyone else did.

"Oh no," Liz screeched quietly, and my body froze in shock. A dark van was headed straight for us, but we couldn't move. We held our breath, hoping they would go around. They didn't.

I woke up in a soft bed with tubes attached to my arm and a wicked headache.

"What the," I muttered, struggling to sit up. Someone pushed me back down and ran a cold washcloth over my face. I heard a button being pushed, and then suddenly I was a lot sleepier. Within seconds I was out again.

This time when I woke up, the IV drip was gone, as was the headache. I sat up slowly and looked around. The room was white, and in front of me was a wall with a door, to my left and right were curtains.

"Hello?" I asked, and when I didn't get a response, I swung my feet off to the left and watched as my bare feet hit the cool floor. I stood up and noted I still had on my black bank robbing outfit Macey had set out for me the day before. At least, I thought it was the day before.

I walked to the curtain and peeked around the edge. Behind it was another bed with a curtain on the opposite side of it, too. In the bed, asleep under layers of blankets, was Liz. I turned to see who was on the other side. The more I walked, the more I hurt. My arms, spotted with gauze and tape, pulled and ached, my ribs hurt, and when I yawned searing pain shot through my face. My legs were decorated with a series of bruises and road-rash, but it wasn't the worst I've had before.

"What are you doing up!" someone said in a high pitched voice, sending me spinning to find the silent intruder. It was just a nurse, quickly followed by my mother.

"Sit, sit, sit!" the nurse said in that high squeaky voice of hers. I walked back over to the bed that seemed to be the only furniture in the room, and sat on the edge. She took my pulse, listened to my heartbeat, shined a flashlight in my eyes and made me follow her finger and recorded it all before looking at me sideways and dashing out of the room.

"What did I fail?" I asked, looking at my mother who was sitting in the corner.

"Nothing honey," she said, walking over and sitting down beside me. "How're you feeling?" she asked, wrapping an arm over my shoulder. I rested my head on her shoulder and sighed, thinking.

"Like, how am I supposed to pretend I feel, or how do I actually feel?" I finally asked.

"Others may say differently, but I'd prefer to hear the latter," a doctor said, walking in the door and answering my question.

"Where are we?" I asked my mother, turning back to look at her. There was no way a normal hospital could house so many silent-stepping, super hearing, staff.

"CIA Hospital thirty miles outside of where we were," she said, grinning.

"Oh, OK," I said, nodding. Big mistake, suddenly the room was spinning faster than I could stand. I closed my eyes and grabbed my head, waiting a few seconds for it to pass.

"I see the concussion hasn't wore off yet," the doctor said, walking over to me.

"Oh, right, I'm supposed to be telling you how I feel," I said with a small smile.

"Correct Miss Morgan."

"Well, yeah, I just got really dizzy, but I can walk. My ribs are really sore, whenever I yawn searing pain shoots through my cheek, and my skin seems to be peeling off my arms every time I move."

"That's all normal. You're recovering quiet well. Your ribs were slightly bruised, and your arms were badly skinned and burned, as was your face. And you had a concussion, but the effects seem to be going away," the doctor explained.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, realizing I still couldn't figure out what day it was.

"Three days," my mom said.

"Oh. How's everyone else?"

"Physically, they're pretty Ok. You, Liz, and Macey got the worst of it. The guys are beating themselves up over it, though," she explained.

"What happened?" I asked, remembering only the van speeding after us.

"The van was coming at you all, and Zach, Jonas, and Chase pushed you all out of the way when they realized you weren't moving on your own. The van swerved to hit you, and it made contact with only you three. Grant had pulled Bex off to the side with him, so neither of them was injured."

"Oh. Where are they?" I asked. "Well, I know where Liz is, where's everyone else?" I rephrased.

"In a dorm hall down the hall."

"Well, can I _see_ them?" I asked.

"I'll send them in," my mom said after looking at the doctor, who shrugged. She got up and walked to the door, followed by the doctor. As they walked out, Zach walked in, and I felt the sudden need to finger comb my hair, realizing it had to be disgusting.

"It's allmy fault Cam!" Zach said as soon as the door was shut behind him and he was beside me on the bed.

"Zach, no it's not," I said.

"You don't remember. It is to," he said, grabbing my hand. "I feel so bad. I should be in this bed, not you."

"Zach, stop. I'm fine, really. It's not even your fault," I said.

"If I had pulled you instead of pushed out of the way, it wouldn't have happened," he kept on.

"And if I had moved in the first place, neither one of us would be in here," I said. "But that's not what happened. Zach, I'm fine," I said, kissing his cheek.

"Fine," he said, dropping it.

"Did we finish the mission?" I asked.

"It was a complete success, except of course, getting ran over," he said.

"Good," I said, satisfied. "What now?" I asked.

"I think we're going to one of Solomon's cabins deep in the woods somewhere," Zach said. "But I could be wrong."

"You're never wrong," I said, laying my head on his shoulder. He played with my fingers a moment before responding.

"I was about how to keep you safe," he muttered, and I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Zachary Martin Goode, do not give me that crap!" I asked, a shiver escaping my clenched muscles. I didn't know how long I had been freezing, but I was beyond that point now.

Zach slid off his jacket and laid it over my shoulders. It smelled like him.

"Guys," my mom said, poking her head through the door. "Solomon wants to leave in ten minutes. The doctor cleared you Cam, and Liz and Macey, so we're good to go," she said.

"Where's all my stuff?" I asked, looking at Zach.

"Bex's got it all ready," he said, standing up. He helped me to my feet and we walked to the door. My mom had disappeared. He led me down the hall to where their rooms were, and as soon as I walked in the room Bex gave me a gentle hug.

"We'll see you soon, Zach!" she said enthusiastically, shoving him out of the room and pulling me over to the bed where an outfit was laying. Beside it sat two more, waiting on Macey and Liz to get here. Just then, the door opened and in walked the previously mentioned, with beat-up faces and arms.

"You definitely got the worst of it," Macey said after a moment of observation.

"I'm fine," I said in defense.

"Cam, honey, I don't think even a professional makeup artist could cover up what the road did to your face," she said.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, turning back to the outfits. I slid on a pair of bootcut jeans, a grey cami, and a bright pink deep V-neck shirt. I slid my feet into a pair of hiking boots that sat at the end of the bed beside two more pairs and noticed Bex was also wearing some.

"I'm guessing Solomon has some hiking planned," I muttered, and Bex led to me a sink where she washed my hair and towel dried it before pulling it up into a ponytail. At least it wasn't stringy anymore.

As we walked out of the bathroom, Macey and Liz were already changed. They were both wearing jeans and boots, but their shirts were totally different from both mine and Bex's. Macey's was a blue floral print spaghetti strap tank with a light jacket, and Liz was wearing a hoodie. I grabbed Zach's jacket and slid it on, feeling the stares.

"Ohh! Cammie!" Macey sung, and I looked up with a frown.

"What?" I asked.

"That's so cute!" she said, and I narrowed my eyes.

"I was cold," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Cam, you love him," Liz teased, and I rolled my eyes.

"Why would you say that?" I asked, looking at them all incredulously.

"You have his jacket," Bex said simply, and I let a small smile escape my lips.

**Please leave me a review and check out my other story: Stalk the Family Secrets. Please and tHank you! :)**


	17. Chapter 16: Cryptograms

**Chapter 16**

The road was narrow and rocky and the seats in Solomon's old jeep were only made to seat four. Everyone moaned as we hit a hole and the girls came up off their seat on the lap of someone else and came back down hard. Solomon cast a guilty glance up into the rearview mirror, and I cracked a smile. The jeep didn't have a roof, and outside of the vehicle greens and browns sped by faster than I could make them out. The road wouldn't have been so bad if Solomon had thought about maybe driving at a normal pace, but no. He insisted the cabin was too far back and if he didn't go at least 45 then we wouldn't get there by dark.

My hips and butt were starting to ache from the cramped quarters, and I'm sure everyone else was just as uncomfortable. The guys were sitting four wide in a two seat space, and we were piled up on top of them and in the floorboard, taking up every available space. Solomon hit another bump and everyone got air. The lack of seatbelts sent everyone flying forward which sent body parts flying into others. Everyone groaned again, and Solomon cracked a small smile from up front. He hit that one on purpose.

Two can play at this game, I thought. I looked at everyone, and they were all frowning.

"Solomon, you hit that one on purpose," Liz said, rubbing her nose which had just been elbowed accidently by Bex.

"Maybe," he said, and we all rolled out eyes.

Bex started humming, and I listened for a moment. It was one of the few songs I had heard recently and knew all the words to.

"_Today I don't feel like doing anything_," I started at a low volume, and Liz picked it up with me.

"_I just want to lay in my bed_," we continued together.

"_Don't feel like picking up the phone, so leave a message at the tone!_" Macey added, laughing. The guys were watching us, and I turned to Zach.

"Come on," I said quietly, and he smirked.

"I don't sing," he said, and the guys snickered.

"You sing in the shower every day," Grant said. Zach shot him a glare.

"I don't sing," Zach tried again, but I pushed my bottom lip out in a pout. He sighed, and the guys laughed as he joined us in the next line.

"'_Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything_," we sang.

Bex switched over from humming to singing, and her voice was about the only one on key.

"_I'm gonna' kick my feet up then stare at the fan!"_ Grant and Jonas finally decided to join us.

"_Turn the TV on_," Chase was the last to join. The girls stopped singing and let the guys do the next line.

"_Throw my hand in my pants, cause nobody's gonna tell me I can't_," they sang, and we all laughed.

"Ok, Ok," my mom and Solomon chorused from the front seat, but we pretended we didn't hear.

"_I'll be lounging on the couch just chillin in my snuggie,"_ everyone continued.

"_Flip to MTV so they can teach me how to dougie,"_ we sang.

"Ok, Ok, stop," mom and Solomon said from up front, and we all groaned.

"Come on!" we said, laughing.

"You know we're the best you've ever heard," Grant said.

"Yeah, Mrs. Morgan, you know we'd so get a record deal," Macey added, and we all laughed.

"If there is one thing we can't teach it's how to sing," my mother said, shaking her head.

"Speaking of Dougie-ing, does anyone know how?" Bex asked, and everyone but one shook their head.

"I know," Macey said, and we all turned to her with mouths agape.

"What? I actually went to a regular school once, remember?" she said, shrugging.

After that, it was a relatively quiet ride. We pulled into a long driveway like road after about thirty more minutes, and then at the end was a quite large cabin, resting on the top of a small hill like a king would a throne. We all piled out of the jeep and I pulled Zach's jacket closer to me as a breeze blew through. We all grabbed the bags we had out of the back and carried them in. The aches and pain that were sent shooting through my body with any sudden movement reminded me I wasn't healed by any means yet.

The inside of the cabin was fully furnished and made you feel at home almost immediately. There was no air conditioning or heating system though, and the cool mountain air was sneaking its way inside already. As we looked around, my stomach growled, and I looked down at it in shock. It wasn't like I hadn't eaten, no the exact opposite. I had eaten so much food before I left that mom had made me stop. Everyone looked at me and I shrugged.

"Go ahead and find your rooms. The power runs on a generator at night and solar panels during the day so you might want to use the light while it lasts," Solomon said, and we all gave him a weird look before grabbing our bags and exploring the cabin. We found one large room with four beds at the end of the hall, and above them via a rickety ladder were four more. The guys quickly claimed the top, so the girls filled their room with their things, made their beds, changed into their pajamas, and brushed their teeth before the power went to must important things, like the fridge.

While the girls were in the bathroom down the hall, the guys jumped from the top floor to the bottom to avoid the squeaky ladder and installed bugs throughout the room. They had already discovered the floor was soundproof. They passed the girls on the way back as they went to brush their teeth.

Back in their room, Liz held up a handful of bugs and the girls skillfully climbed the ladder without making a sound. They hid the bugs and slid back down. The guys were coming down the hall, so they quickly started turning down their beds and organizing their things, looking busy. The guys passed by without saying anything, but the girls caught their reflection off of the ends of the metal bedframes, ipod backs, clock fronts, and the digital screen of the radio. They were creeping pretty hard.

Once they were gone, the girls all sat cross-legged on their beds and turned the radio on low to help drown out their voices.

"Chase was creeping pretty hard there Macey," Bex teased, and Macey-yes, Macey McHenry-blushed a deep crimson, and we all laughed.

"You li-ike him," Liz sang, and Macey picked up a pillow and laughed it at her face. Liz caught it smoothly and held it in her lap.

"What about Jonas, Liz?" Macey jibed back, the color slowly receding from her cheeks.

"I do believe we were talking about you," Liz said.

"Yeah, Macey, don't change the subject," I threw in, and she turned and glared at me. I smiled.

"Fine," she said, huffing.

"I was wondering if anyone was ever going to pass Macey McHenry's standards," Bex said, rolling her eyes.

"He saved my life!" Macey said, and we all cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, he passed them before that, but I mean, well," she got lost in what she was saying and her voice grew quiet. "Liz, can I have my pillow back?" she asked, and Liz tossed it back across the room.

From above us we heard a loud thump and then a lot of muted laughter, and we decided to turn our bugs on.

"She li-ikes you!" someone was saying, copying Liz.

"Yeah," someone else said slowly, like, I already knew that?

"Oh! Man, you like her!" a third voice said, and then, "Ow! Couldn't you just throw a pillow like the girls?"

We all looked at each other and felt ourselves blush. There wasn't a camera in here, so how'd they know that? I looked up; the ceiling, and their floor, happened to be made out of wood, and between a few planks were gaps. Gaps, that if you really wanted to, you could see through. Darn.

"Sorry, Grant, I'm not a girl," the second voice said, and I looked at Macey and mouthed "Chase".

The next morning my body felt oddly pain-free, and I stretched out just to check. Ow, OK, no not completely pain free, just, a lot better.

I got up and walked around a minute to loosen up before walking down the hall to the bathroom. I splashed some cool water on my face and brushed my teeth. There wasn't a mirror anywhere in this house, so the fact of how bad my face looked was left up to distorted reflections and reactions from others. I left the bathroom and walked down the hall, taking note of how many boards made each wall, the floor, the ceiling; which boards squeaked; which boards had space in between them. The wood underfoot changed to carpet in the living room, but back to wood in the kitchen. I poked my head around the corner and saw that no one else was up, or at least, out of their rooms. I was about to go back to my room when I saw something laying on the coffee table in the living room that caught my eye. A manila file envelope. Well, actually, eight of them, and the top one had my name on it.

A quick mental check and I noted it was five thirty. The chances of Solomon and my mom coming in here were probably pretty high. It only took me a second for my desire to overpower my thoughts, and the next thing I knew I was seated on the couch with my legs curled up under me, a blanket draped easily around my shoulders, and the TV on with the volume down so low you almost couldn't hear it. First step, create a cover, complete.

Checking behind me with a reflection off the TV that took in the whole room, I quickly grabbed my file and opened it, pulling out a single sheet of paper, handwritten. The writer had first written from left to right horizontally, but then it seemed they had turned the paper the other way and written across their writing. The paper was covered in black ink on both sides, and the longer I tried to make out words, the more I realized it was in code. A cryptoquip. One letter equaled another. I didn't have time to decipher it, so instead I memorized the first section and put it back into the envelope. I was reaching to put it back on the table when a voice stopped me.

"Snooping?" Solomon asked from behind me, and it took all the effort in my brain not to jump at the sound of his voice.

I stood up and dropped the file on the table before starting to walk down the hall. "Spying," I corrected.

"How much did you read?" he asked, and I stopped, only for a second.

"I didn't even get it open," I said, opening the door to my room. I disappeared from his view inside my room and grabbed a notepad.

_EHFQGWO HOOQ FWGXHO _

_TSJRQOS XHNNHXUQG HEHRQFZ _

_BJOLWG ZQHG _

_HXQ: TLMSQQO_

Those were the letters that took up the first four lines of the page. I hadn't noticed the girls were up when I had walked back in, but now they were all staring at me. I looked up and saw some eyes creeping through the slats in the wood.

"Guys, come on down," I said, like the guy off of the PRICE IS RIGHT and suddenly four half-asleep guys appeared. I copied the letters and handed them out.

"What is this?" Grant asked, covering a yawn.

"I found a file. The whole thing was in a crytoquip. Help me solve it," I said, and they all nodded, no questions asked. I knew it wouldn't take long with eight well trained spies and Jonas and Liz on our side.

**A little short. Can anyone figure it out? I suck at cryptograms, solved my first today. If you figure it out...well...idk what will happen! Haha. Does anyone want anything in particular to happen? I'm sorta stuck. Review pleasepleaseplease! Oh, tand the song is the LAZY SONG by BRUNO MARS**


	18. Chapter 17: River

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update.**

**Chapter 17**

"Got it!" Grant shouted, and we all looked up, pencils posed in midair.

"Seriously?" Jonas asked, disbelief filling his voice.

"Hey, don't sound so shocked!" Grant said, standing. He brought the decoded paper over to Jonas and showed it to him. "I substituted the word "ACADEMY" in because if it was about us our school name would be in the top somewhere, right? Well, it fit on the second line, and then I solved it from there," he explained, showing Jonas the words.

"No way," Jonas said, shaking his head.

"What's it say Grant?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Cameron Anne Morgan. Student Gallagher Academy. Junior Year. Age: Sixteen."

"Well that helped me none," I exclaimed, sitting down and pushing my lower lip out in a pout.

"Where'd you get it anyways?" Bex asked.

"There was a stack of envelopes on the living room coffee table and my name was on the outside of the top one," I explained.

"Well, I do believe we'll have to find those files," Macey said, rubbing her palms together.

"First, can we get something to eat?" Grant asked, and everyone looked at him and shook their heads.

"K," we all said, laughing.

We walked into the kitchen and raided the cabinets, coming up with Raisin Bran cereal, and one package of strawberry poptarts.

"Check the fridge," Liz said, looking through the bottom cabinets.

Zach and I opened the fridge at the same time, our fingers brushing against each other. I quickly dropped my hand to my side and felt my cheeks redden. Zach didn't even turn around, just looked in the fridge.

"Eggs," he said, and we all moaned.

Liz grabbed the toaster and popped in the two poptarts we had found, and Jonas put the Raisin Bran in the trash. The expiration date showed a year that had come and gone a long time ago.

Grant found two skillets and set them on the stove, Bex turned the stove on and greased the pans, Macey and Chase cracked some eggs and mixed them with salt and pepper. Cam and Zach searched for something to drink, but it seemed there was nothing but water. They filled eight glasses of water and set them on the table.

Five minutes later, everyone had a plate containing scrambled eggs and a piece of strawberry poptart.

"This is disgusting," Grant said, poking at the eggs. They were rubbery and slimy. We all devoured our fourth of a poptart and threw the eggs away, sighing.

"That was a fail of a breakfast," Macey said.

"Are you guys ready to go yet?" someone asked, their voice just barely detectable from the kitchen.

"No!" we all yelled back. We had no idea what Solomon was talking about, but hey, if going somewhere meant the possibility of breakfast, everyone was game.

"Wait! Liz do you have on that watch you made in Dr. Fib's lab?" I asked, turning towards her.

"Yes! Where's the file?" she whispered, following me to the living room. The others scattered in lookout. I quickly grabbed the top file and opened the envelope silently before sliding out the coded paper. Liz slipped her watch off and hit a button on the side. A red light emerged from it, and then suddenly, disappeared.

"Bail," I heard someone say, and Liz and I turned around to see Solomon coming down the hall. He was watching us intently. I slid the paper in the envelope and set the file back where we had got it and picked up the map of the area he had laying there. Liz slid her watch back on.

"Elizabeth, I would like to have that watch," Solomon said, holding his hand out. Liz looked shocked.

"Why?" she asked, drawing her hand back.

"Dr. Fibs has asked me to examine the wiring and create a blueprint," he said.

"I could do that for you," Liz said.

"No, that won't be necessary. I just need to borrow your watch," he said.

"Fine," Liz said, giving up and sliding the watch off with a regretful glance at me.

"Get ready to go. I'm showing you a hiking trail," he said, and I looked at Liz and internally moaned.

We walked back to the room where six people were waiting for us expectantly. Liz held up her empty wrist and everyone moaned. I noticed Macey and Bex had already changed into jeans and their hiking boots, as had the guys. I looked down at my cotton boy short pajamas and sighed.

"Leave," Macey instructed the guys, and they left long enough for me to slide on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt Macey handed me. I pushed the sleeves up past my elbow and sat down on my bed to pull my socks on. The guys came back down the ladder.

My ribs ached with the effort of pulling my knees to my chest to tie my shoes, but I ignored it long enough to double knot both boots and pull my jeans out from inside them.

"Cam, you need some makeup, hun," Macey said, tossing me a bottle of liquid foundation and a sponge. I sighed and caught the hand mirror she tossed me.

The left side of my face was smooth scabs of different colors and degrees, all from road burn. I quickly covered it up and blended it in with the rest of my face and covered a few scattered scabs from miscellaneous rocks.

"Thanks," she said, catching the makeup and mirror as I threw it back to her across the room.

"Let's go!" my mom yelled from the living room, and we all jumped up and ran out, rushing past them and out the front door.

"The trail goes up and leads to a small canyon with a river at the bottom. We can go kayaking and white water rafting and tubing on the river," Solomon said. "You guys can go ahead, we'll catch up later," he added, so we all ran off, diving under a low tree branch.

"Guys," I said, already breathing a little hard and holding my ribs.

"We'll slow down, Gallagher Girl," Zach said, coming back to walk with me. He removed one hand from my ribcage and held it. Up ahead, the others slowed just enough that we could keep them in view.

Around us, trees, bushes, flowers, vines, briers, and ferns all grew up and tried to tangle themselves in your feet and legs. At one point, Zach found a raspberry bush, and we stood there and picked all the juicy ones off the bush before continuing, our fingers stained a bright pink.

"So, Gallagher Girl," Zach said.

"So, Zach," I said, grinning.

"You doing alright?" he asked.

I nodded in response, and it must have been my silence that gave away the pain I was feeling. He sighed and walked in front of me. The next thing I knew, I was on his back and he was walking like I wasn't. I smiled and rested my cheek on his head.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

"No problem," he muttered.

We walked like this, almost losing the group, for about two hours. We stopped at streams to drink and raided the woods for all the berries it was worth. Zach dropped me down on my feet when we caught up to the others at a blackberry bush, and we stood and ate with them for a while.

We turned to start walking, but behind us there was rustling in the leaves.

"I thought Solomon and Cam's mom were way behind us," Jonas said, looking around. We all tensed, eyes on the trees.

"They were," Grant said, his lips barely moving as his eyes scanned the woods for the sign of the noise.

"Cam," Zach said quietly, protectively pulling my behind his back.

Macey, who had been quietly nursing her battered body, received the same treatment from Chase, and Jonas pulled Liz behind his small frame as well.

"I'm fine," we all three chorused, but our cries fell onto mute ears.

"Shhh," Bex shushed us, her stance like a cat's as she watched and listened. The leaves kept rattling, and finally, shapes emerged from the growth. Big, burly, man shapes.

"Guys, I think we're outnumbered," Jonas muttered low enough for only us to hear. Quickly my trained eyes found all the grey shapes in the distance and counted. We were outnumbered three to one.

"Start backing up," Grant said, and everyone did without a hesitant step.

Once we started moving though, the shapes did, too, and suddenly, twenty four men out to get us were upon us.

"Let's do this!" Bex said, pushing her sleeves up and quickly pulling her hair into a ponytail. I did the same, but I could tell this wouldn't be a victory.

The first guys to hit us fell easily, Zach, Grant and Bex on our front lines. The more that came the more scattered our bodies were , lost in the heavy overgrowth and trees. Liz managed to climb to the top of one, leaving her big guy at the bottom when the branch he was standing on broke.

The others forgot about her as the fight continued, and she relaxed and quietly sat there, watching us. I saw her out of the corner of my eye as she watched us fight. I was back to back with Zach, our spines digging into each other as we stood our ground. Around us, Macey, Chase, and Jonas were fighting together, and Bex and Grant were taking out guys left and right.

Finally, when I thought I couldn't handle anymore, it was like a silent order had been given. The remaining twelve or so guys dropped back, disappearing into the growth the way they had come.

"Let's move," Grant said, helping Bex off her butt on the ground. Jonas helped Liz out of the tree and Zach tenderly removed my hands from my ribs and lifted my shirt. Under the loose fitting Tshirt my ribs had swollen again, tender and painful to breath.

"We don't have time," Jonas said, casting a sorrowful glance at me. I nodded and shrugged, my expression never changing. Beside me, Macey let a small whimper escape her usually guarded mouth as she began walking behind Liz and Jonas. Her wrist and ankle, the two things injured in her crash to the pavement, were puffy and anyone could tell she was in pain.

Zach walked behind me, catching me from stumbling and guiding me along the path when I was too dizzy to see straight. Somehow, we had become the front, the line leaders, I guess so everyone behind us could keep me from injuring myself worse.

"Oh crap!" I said, wobbling on my toes at the sudden drop off. Zach grabbed my wrist and pulled me backwards, sending rocks bouncing down the rigid drop off below.

"Careful Gallagher Girl," he said, helping me regain my balance.

"It's not extremely high," Bex said, peering over the edge.

"We still should get down before whoever the heck that was attacks again. We don't want a drop off behind us in a fight," Grant said.

"How? There's not a path," Jonas said, looking around.

"I found a stash of rope," Chase said, picking up a pile of rope and dropping it in the center of our circle. Everyone cast me and Macey a careful glance.

"I can repel!" Macey said defensively, and they all turned to me.

"I can, too," I said, forcing my voice to sound confident and sure.

"Bex and I can set it up then," Grant said, grabbing the rope and Bex's hand. They walked over to the edge and started working with the rope to untangle it and tie it to an anchor.

Zach ripped off the bottom of his thin Tshirt and lifted up my shirt to see my swollen abdomen. He looped the fabric around my ribs and tied it, acting as a bandage. Almost immediately the searing pain reduced to a dull ache as I took a breath, and I smiled.

"Thanks," I said.

"You're first!" Grant said, handing a rope to Zach. Grudgingly, Zach tied the rope around his waist and automatically started dropping off the edge. After a few seconds of testing his weight, he quickly let himself drop to the bottom and untied himself, and Grant pulled the rope back up.

"Cam, you next," he said. I tied the rope around my waist and dropped back, hanging over the edge. With a quick bounce to ensure the rope had my weight, I quickly dropped to the bottom and untied myself, sending the rope back up.

After me came Jonas and Liz, and then Macey and Chase, and then Bex, and last but not least, Grant. As we stood on the thin bank lining the river behind us, we heard voices and shuffling above us. Grant quickly pulled lose his not he had made at the top and the rope came falling down beside us. There was scuffling above us, and small rocks were sent showing down on our heads.

"BEX LOOKOUT!" A giant rock fell right where she was standing.

We all decided it was time to move away from the edge and get downstream. We looked around, trying to find either a boat or a raft or a tube to make our way down the river on, and finally, stashed in an almost invisible cave, was two rafts and a bunch of tubes.

"Get in the raft," Chase said as the guys threw it on the water and held it steady. The water only a few steps in was already at our waists, and as we struggled against the current to climb in, the water splashed and covered us from head to toe. It was freezing cold, and it didn't take long to send us into shivers. The guys jumped in fluidly, and then we were soaring down the river, leaving the guys at the top looking over the edge, missing us completely.

Downstream, the fast current traded into white caps and rapids. I bit my bottom lip to keep from screaming as lapful after lapful of cold water splashed over my head before the rough ride would send it splashing back out of the raft.

The canyon edge slowly lowered, and soon, we were even with the banks of the river and the trees around us. We jumped out and swam to shore, everyone dripping wet in their jeans and hiking boots.

"These things are so not made for swimming," Macey said, pulling river grass out of the laces.

"What are you guys doing down here?" Solomon asked from behind us, and even being spies, we all jumped. Behind us were my mom and Solomon, each sporting a few new injuries and bruises.

"We were, uh, on the run," Grant explained.

"Speaking of, we should probably get moving. You are wanted back at the CIA HQ for debriefing and then back to Gallagher. Those guys have been officially taken care of," Solomon said.

We all looked at each other and sighed. The walk back to the cabin was long, and they were in wet jeans. This would not go well.

**Almost over. One more chapter I think. Review please! :)**


	19. End Credits

**I did a trailer, so why not end credits? **

**End Credits**

**Eight Juniors**

Cameron Morgan: The Chameleon: _pavement artist_

Macey McHenry: The Peacock: _disguise specialist_

Rebecca Baxter: The Duchess: _defense professional_

Elizabeth Sutton: The Bookworm: _computer and analytical guru_

Zachary Goode: The Alphabet: _hides emotions/feelings well_

Chase Hix: TheCalifornia:_ lies exceedingly well_

Grant Newman: The Pitt: _weapons and protection/enforcement expert_

Jonas Anderson: The Laptop:_ Research and investigative magician_

**Ending the Year**

"Guys, there is exactly fifty-four hours, thirty two minutes, and seventeen, no sixteen, seconds until classes are over and we're out of school for the summer," Liz said, sinking to a seat softly on her mattress, and air of depression around her.

"That's fifty-four hours, thirty two minutes, and three seconds of junior year we haven't experienced, and that my friends, means the year is not over yet!" Macey said.

"I still have illegal moves to learn in P&E! The year cannot be over!" Bex cried.

"Guys, you're totally missing Liz's point!" Cam said, taking a seat beside her depressed thin friend. "That fifty-four hours, thirty one minutes, and forty-four seconds before she doesn't get to see Jonas for an entire summer. And for you guys, that means no Chase or Grant. And for me, no Zach," Cam said, joining Liz in sadness.

**With a Dance**

"Students! I am glad to inform you that this year, in celebration of a wonderful year, the whole school of Blackthorne is coming over and we are having a ball!" Rachel Morgan, headmistress, said from her podium, and the room of well-trained spies might as well have been filled with starved tigers being teased with raw meat.

"You will be required to dance with somebody," she continued, and the roar of noise got louder.

**Requiring Hours of Preparing**

"Zachary!" Macey McHenry screeched, sending daggers towards the dorm door. "Out!" she said, pointing. With a smirk, the boy in question walked confidently out the door, sending a wink over his shoulder for the dirty blonde sitting on her bed, watching him leave.

"Catch you later, Gallagher Girl," he said, and Cam smiled. Behind the closed dorm door, if looks could kill, Macey McHenry would be dead.

"What did you do that for?" Cam screeched, jumping up. "He was about to ask me to be his date for the dance!"

"Don't play innocent Cammie!" Macey fired back. "You know you have to get ready for the big dance tonight! You're the only one left besides me, and Zach couldn't see Bex and Liz's dresses!"

"Sigh," Cam said before actually sighing and standing up, allowing Macey to lead her to the bathroom door. She was shoved in and met by layers of satin, lace, and plastic headbands.

"Lord, help me," she muttered, and Bex smiled.

"You're going to need it," she said, sliding a dress off a hanger.

"We don't have all day, Cammie," a soft southern voice said, adding to the confined confusion. Cammie quickly undressed and slipped into the dress waiting for her. Liz zipped up the back and Bex straightened the front, and then, only then, were the three allowed to step out of the bathroom and into the dorm for Macey's dress approval.

Cam looked in the mirror and gasped. Her dress was a rich purple satin that hugged her body and then flared out, ending at her knees. The strapless top was created by layers of ruffles, and the bottom poofy part was enforced by an underlayer of black lace.

Bex's dress was blue, and hooked over one shoulder and ended low. There was a black belt around her waist and her hair, already perfected, was curled in rings, half up in a half ponytail.

Liz's dress was pink, and matched her personality perfectly. The baby pink was shy and sweet, but the silver trim and black flower on the sash showed her wild side. Her hair, also finished, was down around her face, held back by a plastic headband and curled along the very bottom for an accent. Her wrist was the owner of a very shiny silver bracelet.

"Cam, your hair!" Macey said, grabbing the curling iron and spinning her around. Within two minutes, Cam's hair matched Liz's in style, and Bex placed the finishing touch, a headband, into her hair, creating a small poof in the front.

"Perfect," Macey said, stepping back and looking at her masterpieces. "My turn," she sang, stepping into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, her hair was shiny and sleek with a blue headband in that matched her eyes. Her dress was the little black dress mentioned in movies and music but never really worn. She touched up everyone's faces with coverup and lip gloss before standing in front of her body length mirror.

"Let's go," she said, checking the clock one last time to make sure they would be fashionable "late".

In the boys dorms, similar things were happening.

"Jonas, I think these are your pants," Grant said, throwing the pair of dress pants he had just tried on over to Jonas and catching the pair coming towards him.

"Chase, heads," Zach called tossing his suit jacket over his head to Grant, and in return received Grant's.

"Not my shirt!" Chase yelled, taking off the too tight dress shirt.

"That's mine!" Jonas yelled, grabbing it out of Chase's hands and putting it on.

"Then where's mine?" he said, looking around the trashed room. It was clean before they started getting ready for this 'ball'.

"I don't know," three voices chorused and Chase groaned.

"Who has the other size ten shoe?" Grant said, holding up a shoe in the air while one was tied on his foot.

"Mine match," Zach said, grabbing a tie of the back of the chair.

"So do mine," Jonas said.

"That would mean I do," Chase said, looking around. "But they seem to have gone missing along with my shirt!" he said, looking under the blankets on the unmade bed behind him.

"Found it!" Jonas said, tossing a shoe at Chase.

"Ow," he muttered as it hit his head. The second shoe he caught. After a second of checking to see which one was his size, he threw the other at Grant who caught it and returned fire.

"Guys, we have two minutes," Grant said, hopping around on one foot while trying to tie a shoe on his other.

"I still can't find my shirt," Chase said calmly, tying his shoes.

"My hair won't spike," Jonas complained.

"Let me help," Zach said. He turned and punched Jonas in the arm.

"What was that for!" Jonas said, rubbing his arms.

"You sounded like a girl!" Zach said, smirking. "Chase, I found your shirt," he added, picking up the shirt under his feet.

"Thanks," Chase said, snagging it from his hands and sliding it on. He buttoned it and put on followed by his suit jacket and his tie.

"Let's go!" Grant said, and they all ran a hand through their hair and ran out the door, slamming it closed behind them.

**And a Dance with a Blackthorne Boy**

Music was blaring, lights were dim and colors were flashing, the teachers were leaned against the wall watching, and the boys were on one side of the Hall, the girls on the other, with the junior class (who had spent all semester with the boys) in the middle, mingling.

"Let's make this one a boy's choice," Mr. M said, who also happened to be "DJ"ing the dance.

Suddenly, the music slowed drastically and the boys confidently walked across and took girl's hands.

"Would you like this dance?" Zach said, appearing out of nowhere. Cam smiled, nodded, and instantly was swept up into his grasp in a breathtaking tango.

"Bex," Grant said, appearing behind her. She twisted around so fast her hair was left on her shoulder. "Dance?" he asked, and she nodded, for once in her life, completely wordless.

"Um, Liz?" Jonas stuttered, fixing his tie repeatedly. She turned around and smiled. "Would…would you like….like to…to dance?" he finally managed to finish, and Liz smoothly accepted.

"Miss McHenry," Chase bowed, a smile on his face. Macey turned and laughed. "Would you care to dance?" he asked with a fake accent. She laughed harder and accepted his hand.

**Before Saying Goodbye**

As the last limos pulled up the Gallagher, the last remaining students picked up their bags and dried their tears.

"I guess I'll see you next year," they all said, giving out hugs.

"Be careful," Zach said, hugging his Gallagher Girl. "I'll see you soon."

Everyone climbed into their respective cars and drove away, leaving the junior year, and the schools, behind them.

**The end! Review? Please? With a big fresh cherry on the top? (unless you don't like cherries, like me, and then, um..whip cream or chocolate syrup?)**


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